Kirk Herbstreit explains why he gives South Carolina a chance to upset Tennessee
South Carolina is looking to play spoiler on Saturday against one of its SEC East rivals.
Tennessee won’t be playing in the SEC Championship Game, but the Volunteers are still in the hunt to make the College Football Playoff. Josh Heupel’s squad is ranked No. 5, a good spot with No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan set to meet in Week 13.
UT will be focused on getting to 10-1 heading into the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt. Kirk Herbstreit, however, gives the Gamecocks a chance at pulling off a big upset.
“South Carolina, they are back home, and any time they play in Columbia, there’s always a chance,” Herbstreit said during Saturday’s College GameDay.
Herbstreit noted the Williams-Brice Stadium crowd may do more than just give Shane Beamer’s squad a boost of energy.
“And remember, the last time Tennessee went on the road — it was, obviously, against the best team in the country, Georgia — but just the execution of their offense wasn’t there,” Herbstreit continued. “They were out of sync. And talking to their coaches last night, I think a lot of it had to do with just adjusting to dealing with not just Georgia but the crowd. And you think about when they’ve looked great, they’ve been at home. So I think they’re trying to embrace the fact that they’re away from Neyland, ‘Let’s show that we can keep this offense going on the road.’ And so, you know how it’ll be.”
The Gamecocks are looking to bounce back from a blowout loss on the road.
“South Carolina, they just had a disappointing loss — by far their worst loss of the year,” Herbstreit said. “You know how college football is. Last week, they couldn’t do much of anything in Gainesville. Now they come back home, trying to shock the world. And they have Clemson next week. So there’s a lot at stake, I think, for both these teams — not just Tennessee. It should be a great scene tonight in Columbia.”
Tennessee-South Carolina is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.