South Carolina-Providence Preview

The South Carolina Gamecocks (2-4) will welcome Big East foe Providence (5-2) to Colonial Life Arena Thursday night in the Big East/SEC Challenge.

Providence comes into the game after a win against Holy Cross, but have lost two of their last three, including back to back losses to Iowa State and Northern Iowa.  The Friars are led by junior guard Vince Council, who averages 18.0 points per game, and sophomore guard Gerard Coleman, who averages 16.7 points per contest.

In the rebounding department, freshman forward LaDontae Henton leads the Friars with 8.1 boards per game and also averages 11.4 points per game, making him one of Providence's most versatile threats on the hardwood.

In Providence's win over Holy Cross, guard Bryce Cotton led the Friars with 24 points.

The Gamecocks are coming back home for the first time since a 61-57 win over Mississippi Valley State.  South Carolina is coming off of losses to then-No. 1 UNC and Southern California in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Senior Malik Cooke leads the Gamecocks with over 11 points per game followed by guard Eric Smith, who averages 8.3 per game.  R.J. Slawson and Demontre Harris both lead South Carolina in rebounding, averaging 5.3 boards per contest.

Harris led the Gamecocks in scoring in their 63-60 loss to So. California, but has struggled scoring the ball so far this season. South Carolina had trouble guarding the three vs. So. California, allowing Maurice Jones to go seven for seven from beyond the arc, scoring 28 points in the Trojan victory.

The Gamecocks are going to need a strong game out of freshman Anthony Gill if they are going to want to win this game.  Gill, despite not playing many minutes due to foul trouble, has been able to make a strong impact for South Carolina.  He averages over eight points per game and over five rebounds per contest and if he's able to avoid foul trouble early, he could keep the Gamecocks in this one.

The Friars aren't in great form right now and the Gamecocks are coming off of a close loss to one of the best teams they've played so far this season.  I think South Carolina has the edge in this game with the home court advantage and see the Gamecocks recording their third win of the season on Thursday night over the Providence Friars.

The Post & Cocky SEC Bowl Projections

BCS National Championship, Jan. 9: LSU vs. Alabama

Capital One Bowl, Jan. 2: Arkansas vs. (Big Ten team)

AT&T Cotton Bowl, Jan. 6: South Carolina vs. (Big 12 team)

Outback Bowl, Jan. 2: Georgia vs. (Big Ten team)

Chick-fil-A Bowl, Dec. 31: Auburn vs. (ACC team)

Gator Bowl, Jan. 2: Florida vs. (Big Ten team)

Music City Bowl, Dec. 30: Mississippi State vs. (ACC team)

Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31: Vanderbilt vs. (C-USA or Big East team)

*Outcome of SEC Championship (LSU vs. Georgia) could change these projections drastically. For bowl projection purposes, The Post & Cocky is predicting a LSU victory over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, CBS).

Clemson-South Carolina Preview

The No. 14 South Carolina Gamecocks (9-2, 6-2) will host No. 18 Clemson Tigers (9-2, 6-2) this Saturday night at 7:45 p.m. ET at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC.

The Tigers are coming in off of a loss to lowly NC State 37-13, and have lost two of their last three ballgames.  The Tigers have also lost the last two games in this rivalry, including a 29-7 loss last year at home in Death Valley.

Clemson will play in next week's ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, NC, but this team has hardly looked like a BCS team in the past several weeks.

"We're lucky we hadn't lost all three," coach Dabo Swinney said after last Saturday's loss at North Carolina State.

QB Tahj Boyd threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, while Mike Bellamy also lost a fumble against the Wolfpack this past weekend.  Clemson's offense also didn't reach the 200 yard mark until late in the game, and didn't score a touchdown until their final drive.

"A key to us winning is to keep from turning the ball over," Clemson tight end Brandon Ford said. "If we can execute like we did the first eight games, that should be OK."

That may be an issue this week against the Gamecocks highly ranked defensive unit, which has been the strongest part of the team this season.

South Carolina's defense is ranked sixth in the country in turnovers with 29 and are looking to win three straight in The Battle of the Palmetto State for the first time since 1968-70.  Although the Gamecocks are missing out on the SEC Championship Game next week, this is a big match-up that South Carolina really wants to win.

"If you're not in the conference championship game, this becomes the biggest game of the year for us," coach Steve Spurrier said.

Even though the Gamecocks will not participate in the SEC Title Game, they have a chance to accomplish some big things.  If South Carolina wins this Saturday, the Gamecocks will have won 10 games in a season for just the second time in school history, tying the record set by the 1984 Gamecocks.

The Gamecocks are hoping for a repeat performance from last week out of their offensive unit.  The Gamecocks lit up The Citadel for 473 yards, including 217 yards and three touchdowns from Connor Shaw and another 109 yards and two scores from Brandon Wilds.

The Tigers will need to match the intensity of the Gamecocks if they want to rebound with a win Saturday night.  If the Gamecocks can get another solid outing from the offense, Clemson could be in trouble early.

Prediction:
#14 South Carolina 21  #18 Clemson 17

South Carolina vs. The Citadel Preview Show

South Carolina vs. Florida Preview

The No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks (7-2, 5-2) will welcome SEC Eastern Division rival Florida (5-4, 3-4) to Columbia this Saturday afternoon for a 12 p.m. ET kick-off at Williams Brice Stadium.

The Gamecocks are coming off of a 44-28 loss at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks, leaving Georgia in the driver's seat in the SEC East.  If the Gamecocks are to make it back to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game, they will need a win over Florida and a Georgia loss to either Auburn or Kentucky in the next two weeks.

Both Florida and South Carolina had their starting quarterbacks taken out of last week's games due to injury.  John Brantley was injured late in Florida's 26-21 win over Vanderbilt and Connor Shaw left the game at Arkansas with a concussion.  Both Shaw and Brantley are expected to start this weekend.

"We think Connor will be alright by the middle of the week," said Head Coach Steve Spurrier at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. "Clint Haggard, our athletic trainer, gave him the test to see how he's doing and he's doing pretty well."

The injury to Shaw is not the only one that the Gamecocks will be worrying about this week.  Safety DeVonte Holloman was also concussed in last week's game and his status is doubtful for Saturday.  Antonio Allen sat out last weekend's game with a sore neck, but the Gamecocks expect to have him back for the Florida game.

"DeVonte Holloman is still hurt," said Spurrier. "Antonio Allen should be back. He was running around last night for the first time in a week. Hopefully he'll be able to play the entire game for us."

Florida snapped a four game losing streak last Saturday, defeating Vanderbilt 26-21.  John Brantley threw for 173 yards as Jeff Demps ran for a career high 158 yards in Florida's win.

This is a must win game for South Carolina, but the Gators will definitely be looking for revenge for the beat-down the Gamecocks delivered in The Swamp last November.

Predicton:
#15 South Carolina 17  Florida 14

South Carolina at Arkansas Preview

The No. 10 South Carolina Gamecocks (7-1, 5-1) will travel to Fayettville, Ark. to take on the No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (7-1, 3-1) this Saturday night at Razorback Stadium.

The Gamecocks are coming into this game off of a 14-3 win at Tennessee last weekend.  Freshman running back Brandon Wilds made his first career start in place of injured running back Marcus Lattimore and filled in nicely, carrying the ball 28 times for 137 yards while also recording three catches for 31 yards.

"Brandon did a lot of good things in that Tennessee game," said Coach Steve Spurrier at his weekly press conference. "Some things happened that hopefully he can learn from also. Going out for passes a couple of times, he left Connor (Shaw) and sort of drifted on him a couple of times. We believe he can be better in certain areas, but he's a natural runner. Brandon is an excellent runner with the ball. He has a good body lean, shakes guys off. He has a knack. He was able to show it last week. Hopefully we can get a bunch of yards. We're not a great passing team so we better be able to run successfully."

Connor Shaw had a less than impressive performance, but did his job, managing the Gamecocks to a 11 point win in a place where they'd only won once before.  He finished the game 10-for-18, 87 yards and a touchdown, he also ran for a touchdown in the third quarter to cap a 98 yard drive.

The defense played another great game for Carolina, holding Tennessee to just three points.  This is the third time this season that the Gamecocks have held an opponent to a field goal.

"We've simplified a lot of our coverages to where we don't have that many and (commit) fewer mistakes," said Spurrier. "That's a big part of it. Just the guys playing hard, playing their assignments, playing with effort and getting a pretty consistent rush has been helpful. We have good athletes. When they know what to do and are in position, I know that's helped us this year compared to what we did last year."

Arkansas is coming in off of a scare, winning 31-28 at Vanderbilt last week, in which the difference in the game was a missed 27 yard field goal in the closing seconds.  Arkansas also escaped with a 29-23 victory at Ole Miss the week before.

If the Gamecocks are going to win this weekend at Arkansas, the first thing they will need to focus on is the Razorbacks' lethal passing attack, led by quarterback Tyler Wilson.  Arkansas ranks ninth in the country in passing offense, and leads the SEC in the category.

Spurrier acknowledged the impressive statistics that the Razorbacks have been able to put up this year in his Tuesday press conference.

"I really don't watch other teams' offenses that much," Spurrier said. "I try to watch the defense and see if we can find some ball plays to hit here and there. Obviously (Tyler Wilson's) statistics are very good. Watching him against Vandy, he stays and makes the throws. He got hit a bunch of times. He's a tough kid and plays with courage. He'll stay in the pocket and make the throws. I admire the way he plays certainly."

Arkansas doesn't match up well against the run, however, which could present some problems for them on defense.  They rank 89th in the country in rushing defense, whereas Carolina ranks in the top 25 in rushing offense, 2nd in the SEC, averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground.

The Gamecocks are also looking to avenge a 41-20 loss at home last season to Arkansas.  This promises to be a great game in which both teams both have shots at BCS bowls this upcoming postseason.

Prediction:
#10 South Carolina 28  #8 Arkansas 27