Opponent preview: South Carolina enters national spotlight against Tennessee

After getting embarrassed by Florida last Saturday, South Carolina will step into the limelight this weekend.

SEC Network announced its pre-game show “SEC Nation” will take place live from the USC Horseshoe Saturday morning. When the Gamecocks play No. 5 Tennessee that night, they’ll be featured in ESPN’s primetime slot.

It’s going to be a busy weekend in Columbia, to say the least. Playing the Volunteers presents a big challenge but having national attention is a fantastic opportunity, Shane Beamer said.

“We’ve got some young men that will be here on their official visits that’ll be a part of going to watch the (Paul) Finebaum Show Friday and SEC Nation on Saturday,” Beamer said. “So I hope our students and fanbase would pack out the Horseshoe as well and get this weekend started right.”

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On the field, South Carolina will have its hands full preparing for Tennessee’s offense.

It’s hard to find weaknesses when looking at the nation’s best offense this season. The Vols are averaging 47.4 points and 543.7 yards per game. And when they win, it’s usually not close. They’ve won six games by 27 or more points. Their other three wins against Pittsburgh, Florida, and Alabama have been decided by a combined 15 points.

Success has started at quarterback for Tennessee, manned by Heisman Trophy candidate Hendon Hooker. He’s been nothing short of excellent, throwing for 2,888 yards and 24 touchdowns with two interceptions. He leads the SEC in completion percentage (71.1) and owns a 91 offensive quarterback grade, according to Pro Football Focus.

Hooker also has rushed for 405 yards and five touchdowns.

“We have to keep him contained because he can run — he can basically do it all,” Zacch Pickens said. “Make sure we keep him level — have a spy — got to keep him under control because he can take over a game by himself.”

Hooker is only one piece of the puzzle in Tennessee’s offense. Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small are a terrific one-two punch in the backfield. They are averaging 4.61 yards per carry and have scored 17 touchdowns. In the passing game is where it gets scary good.

There are multiple threats at wide receiver for the Vols. But Jalin Hyatt has arguably been the conference’s best receiver all year. The Irmo native has caught 58 passes for 1,116 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s had four games with 100-plus receiving yards and two or more touchdowns. His best game came against the Crimson Tide in mid-October when he averaged 34.5 yards per catch with 207 yards and a program-record five touchdowns.

“Every team has focused on him that played against him, make sure he’s trying to stay in check, and he’s had his way,” Clayton White said. “We want to do a great job of knowing that he’s going to make catches. Our job is to try to prevent the big plays for touchdowns and understand that good players are going to make plays.”

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Tennessee also runs a high-tempo offense, calling 76.1 plays per game. South Carolina struggled to stop Florida’s offense last weekend and it ran 79 plays.

Beamer said it’s hard to simulate this offensive style during practice. The scout team will try to go as fast as possible for four or five plays but not every single play.

“It stresses your scout team a lot,” Beamer said. “We mixed in some tempo (on Tuesday) to try and help the defense. … The amount of time that we did do the scout teamwork, they were awesome.”

It’s also been physically exhausting to play at the same speed.

“They’re taking every play and can get winded pretty quick,” Beamer said. “But it takes a lot of organization from the graduate assistants and the coaches to make sure that the guys can get line up.”

Stopping the offense isn’t impossible, though.

Only one team has figured out the offensive juggernaut. The Vols recorded one touchdown and 289 yards when they played No. 1 Georgia two weeks ago. They also went 2-for-14 on third down, leading to a 27-13 defeat.

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“Georgia did a great job of tackling,” Beamer said. “Tennessee completed passes but when they completed them it wasn’t missed tackles that resulted in 70-yard touchdown passes. It was a 10 or 15-yard catch that immediately the guys tackled and then you put the ball down and keep snapping it.”

South Carolina’s defense will need to make stops on third down and keep them from scoring in the red zone, Beamer said.

“You’ve got to be able to hold them to field goals and not let them score touchdowns,” he said. “It’s easier said than done but it starts up front on the line of scrimmage and then out on the perimeter we’ve got to do a great job of tackling.”

With two games left to go in the regular season, the Gamecocks’ offense still hasn’t played consistently well. The team was missing multiple weapons against the Gators. But there’s no way to justify only scoring six points against one of the worst defenses in the country. And the offense didn’t even score — special teams did. Kai Kroeger threw a pass to Dakereon Joyner for a 48-yard score to give them their only points.

Marcus Satterfield admitted the offense has played its worst lately.

“We thought we hit rock bottom against Missouri and fought back and had a good game,” Satterfield said. “And then we hit rock bottom against Florida with the turnovers and inconsistency in the penalties.”

There’s a chance South Carolina will hit rock bottom again when facing the Vols’ defense. Tennessee has only allowed 21.9 points per game and kept opponents from scoring consistently in the red zone. When it counts the most, the defense has stepped up, allowing red zone touchdowns 47 percent of the time in 38 opportunities.

The Gamecocks have been good at running the football this year, winning five of their games when rushing for more than 100 yards. There are some potential problems with that, though.

Tennessee has given up 104.5 rushing yards per game, the 11th-best in the country. Opponents are only averaging 3.17 yards per carry.

Marshawn Lloyd and Christian Beal-Smith won’t play once again. This means Juju McDowell and Jaheim Bell will receive most of the carries against the defense.

“I’ve been preparing myself for this as long as possible,” McDowell said about having more opportunities. “Marshawn and CBS, those guys keep grounded. They keep my head focused and make sure I’m not slacking. They keep me focused on the priority for the week, so by the time I get to the game, it’s like I’m at practice.”

With the odds stacked against them, South Carolina believes it can find a way to pull out a victory. Eric Douglas said the team needs to focus on what it needs to do and “do your job.”

“It doesn’t take no magic tricks — it doesn’t take you doing something spectacular,” Douglas said. “All 11 of us do our jobs then the ship will sail the right way.”

The Gamecocks will face Tennessee at Williams-Brice Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday night. It’s also the team’s senior night. ESPN’s Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe will be on the call.

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