Staff Picks: South Carolina-Old Dominion, other Week 1 matchups on Labor Day weekend

College football is officially back, and so are weekly staff picks from the GamecockCentral and 107.5 The Game crew.

South Carolina opens the 2024 season at home against Old Dominion on Saturday (4:15 p.m., SECN). But there are also plenty of other good Week One matchups around the country going on.

With an entire Labor Day weekend full of games to watch, let’s get into the picks from the experts.

George Bagwell: South Carolina is starting this year with a roster much improved compared to last year’s season opener, and they’re three-touchdown favorites entering this matchup. But Old Dominion resembles Jacksonville State plenty, an opponent that gave South Carolina fits for most of four quarters last year. The Gamecocks should win, and this game will be an opportunity for LaNorris Sellers to get his feet wet before playing an SEC-caliber defense, but I’m not convinced that these two teams are 21 points apart, matchup-wise. South Carolina 27, Old Dominion 13.

Peyton Butt: I anticipate South Carolina to come out of the gate playing with something to prove. I think fans have a lot of uncertainties and questions about this year’s team that the Gamecocks want to prove their strength early. South Carolina 32, Old Dominion 17.

Elijah Campbell: South Carolina is favored by three scores and the expectation is that they dog walk the Monarchs to start the season. Old Dominion has a history of scaring folks at the P4 level (just ask Virginia Tech). With a completely new identity on offense and a strong returning defense, I expect a low scoring first half before the Gamecocks figure things out in the second half to win comfortably. South Carolina 27, Old Dominion 13.

Chris Clark: The Gamecocks will run the ball and stop the run more effectively than we’ve seen in past season openers under Shane Beamer, and the 2024 defense will get off to a good start in stymying the Monarchs. South Carolina 41, Old Dominion 13

Terry Ford: I’ll buy into the Gamecocks defense controlling this game while the offense works to find it’s groove. I think USC has a good day running the ball with multiple backs getting touches as Dowell eases LaNorris into his new role as QB1. South Carolina 34, Old Dominion 13.

Griffin Goodwyn: From a pure wins-and-losses standpoint, South Carolina has not performed well recently in season openers. Over the past five seasons, the Gamecocks have a 2-3 record in Week 1 matchups. But all three of those losses came against competitive teams — two came at the hands of North Carolina, and another to Tennessee in 2020 when the Gamecocks’ schedule was limited to just SEC opponents. Old Dominion, however, heads to Columbia as a team that’s not nearly as complete as any of these teams were. The Monarchs have many individual talented players on its roster, including Preseason All-American linebacker Jason Henderson. But the Gamecocks enter this matchup with a distinct advantage, both in terms of depth and the raucous atmosphere Williams-Brice Stadium provides. South Carolina 35, Old Dominion 17.

Tyler Head: So much of this SC team is still a mystery, so it’s hard to exactly predict how the game will go. That being said, the Gamecocks are far more talented than ODU. If SC can prevent shooting themselves in the foot they’ll be fine. South Carolina 38, Old Dominion 17.

Wes Mitchell: South Carolina goes into its opener with a defense that brings back a lot of pieces and an offense that is going to look completely different than last year’s. Facing a pesky Old Dominion program that runs unique schemes on both offense and defense, that could be a recipe for a closer-than-expected game for much of the day. But Carolina should ultimately pull away. South Carolina 31, Old Dominion 13.

Jay Phillips: The “new look” Gamecocks need to hit the ground running this week, primarily because of who they face in the next two games. That said, ODU can’t be overlooked because they’ve had success against good programs in the recent past. I’ve said on the show that utilizing the bulk of the traveling squad for UK is best, and keep the frontline guys in as long as possible to build cohesion and confidence. With some ugly thrown in I say South Carolina 34, Old Dominion 16.

Kendall Smith: Thank you, Jack for still letting me be a part of the staff picks even though I’m not around as much! Excited to see how the Gamecocks start off the season. Tomorrow officially begins the LaNorris Sellers era, something we’ve been looking forward to for a while. Give me the Gamecocks in the season opener. South Carolina 38, Old Dominion 10.

Mike Uva: The Gamecocks offense will start slow but will pick up after the energy created by South Carolina’s defense. Grab your Gamecock bingo card because I expect not only Rocket Sanders to find the end zone in his USC debut but for Juju McDowell and Josh Simon to do so as well. South Carolina 37, Old Dominion 10.

Jack Veltri: Don’t sleep on what the Fun Belt is capable of. We’ve seen it before (Marshall beat Notre Dame in South Bend, South Alabama smoked Oklahoma State last year. Heck, ODU has beaten Virginia Tech twice since 2018). I think this will be a nice test for the Gamecocks. ODU will keep it close in the early going. But I expect South Carolina’s depth and talent to be too much for the Monarchs in the second half to pull away to a season-opening victory. Although, I don’t think the Gamecocks will cover the spread, which sits at -19.5 on Friday. South Carolina 30, Old Dominion 13.

Chris Wellbaum: Am I wrong to be scared of this game? USC has so many unknowns that it feels like there is the potential for this game to go sideways. Or turn into a blowout. I’ll be boring and split the difference. South Carolina 31, Old Dominion 27.

Contest for GamecockCentral members: Predict the South Carolina-Old Dominion score