Everything you need to know before South Carolina plays Tennessee

South Carolina will end a gauntlet of a first month of football with a trip to Knoxville, where it will take on No. 21 Tennessee Saturday night.

The Gamecocks are coming off a 37-30 win over Mississippi State last weekend. They’ll look to finish the month over .500 heading into the bye week next week.

Before kickoff (7:30 p.m., SECN), here’s what you need to know about the Volunteers.

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How they got here

To say expectations were high coming into this year would be an understatement. After a great season last year, many expected the Volunteers to contend for the SEC East and possibly a playoff berth.

Things got off to a strong start as they won their first two games by a margin of 79-26. But up next would be a trip to a place that had been a house of horrors for them for years.

Tennessee came into Gainesville looking to win there for the first time in 20 years. It was always a tough place to play. And it continued to be that way. Florida scored 20 second quarter points to propel it to a strong 29-16 win over the Volunteers.

While losing the first SEC game of the year wasn’t ideal, the Vols bounced back with a 45-14 win over UTSA last Saturday. Now, they’ll get their first home conference game of the year.

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Where they sit in the rankings

After dropping 12 spots after the Florida loss, Tennessee is ranked 21st in the country this week by the AP Poll. In the USA Today coaches poll, it comes in at No. 19.

In the College Football Power Index (FPI), the Vols sit at No. 18 with a 13.8 FPI. They have a 0.5 percent chance to win out, 5.3 percent chance to win the SEC East and a 1.8 percent chance to win the conference championship.

In simpler terms, it’s a lot more likely Tennessee will be good enough to at least qualify for a bowl game. It has a 96 percent chance to win six games.

In the SP+ rankings, it ranks 14th overall, 9th offensively and 27th defensively.

The Vols check in at No. 20 in the Massey ratings. They rank 10th in offense and 21st in defense. They have the 51st-best strength of schedule.

The FPI gives South Carolina a 29.7 percent chance to win while Massey gives the Gamecocks a 25 percent chance.

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Players to know

We’ll get to the most important player to watch out for but there are some other players to go over first.

Kama Hadden, a cornerback for Tennessee, has really progressed this year and is someone who the Gamecocks have to be wary of.

In four games, Hadden has 12 tackles and one interception. Pro Football Focus gives him a 77.4 defensive grade. To put it into perspective, his grades were in the lower 60’s over the last two seasons.

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Hadden is at his best when he’s in coverage. He has an 84.5 PFF grade in this area, which is 16th-best amongst all defensive backs. But if there’s one place he’s lacking, it would be in stopping the run. PFF has him at a 48.6 grade.

Overall, expect him to be a big player in trying to stop the passing game. He’s been Tennessee’s best defensive back this year and will probably be locked onto Xavier Legette this game.

In order to beat the Vols, South Carolina is going to have to stop the run game. And that means slowing down Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small. Both have split a fair share of the carries, with Wright only having three more than Small.

Wright has arguably been more productive when given the ball as he’s ran for 312 yards, averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Small has 258 yards on the ground with one touchdown.

As if those two weren’t enough, keep an eye on another running back, Dylan Sampson. He’s only got 27 carries, but he’s been solid in his chances. He’s got 199 yards and five touchdowns with 7.4 yards per run.

Slowing down the run game hasn’t always been South Carolina’s strong suit, but it was able to do it in the second half of last week’s game to come away with a win. It’s going to be tough with a three-headed monster in the backfield. However, if it can be done, it will force quarterback Joe Milton III to throw much more often.

What else can you say about Milton? He’s got a great arm and can run for big chunks when he’s given space. It makes for a tough challenge to slow him down.

Milton’s been fine this year, completing 62.5 percent of his passes for 925 yards with eight touchdowns to one interception. As a runner, he’s got 135 yards and four touchdowns, one of which was an 81-yard run against UTSA.

One area the Gamecocks need to be good against Milton in is the deep ball. He has a cannon and can throw 50-60 yards downfield. His longest completed pass so far this year is 55 yards. So he’s a real threat from that standpoint.

However, when he can’t make plays with his legs, he becomes one-dimensional. Take a look at his stats against a legit team like Florida. The Gators held Milton to five carries for six yards. He instead had to rely on his arm and completed 58.8 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and an interception. And that game ended up being a loss.

This might be a bold take but Milton is no Hendon Hooker. He’s still got some big shoes to fill and it remains to be seen what he does this weekend.

Path to victory

Let’s flashback to about 10 months ago. South Carolina was coming off a blowout loss to Florida in The Swamp. With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Gamecocks faced the daunting task of playing Tennessee and Clemson, both ranked inside the top 10.

Not many gave South Carolina a chance, and rightfully so. It was a double-digit underdog at home. It would’ve been a surprise if the Gamecocks made it a competitive game. But somehow, someway, they did just that.

They would shock the world and win 63-38 over the No. 5 Volunteers. The next week, they went into Death Valley and beat Clemson for the first time in nine years.

Fast forward to now, Tennessee certainly hasn’t forgotten about what happened. After all, that loss did end all chances at making the College Football Playoff. So the Vols are going to be fired up for this one, more so than just a regular game. They probably want to destroy South Carolina the same way it did against them.

How the Gamecocks can beat them has already been explained: stop the run, force Milton to throw and continue to be good on offense. It’s a simple but tough path to a win.

Outside of that, they need to be ready for what should be an insane atmosphere. Tennessee is pulling out all the stops. It’s going to be a night game and blackout. Plus, Tennessee will honor the 1998 national championship team Saturday. It’s going to be a crazy night.

From what the players and Shane Beamer said this week, the pressure isn’t on them to win. It’s more so on the Vols because they already have one loss and are in that “championship window.” That’s the type of confidence and mentality to have going into this game.

It’s going to be tough to expect a 35-point first half performance from South Carolina like last year. But if Rattler and company can be any bit as good as they were in this game a year ago, they have a chance to pull off another upset.

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