Navy Midshipmen at No. 10 South Carolina Gamecocks (-17), Total 58 |
Navy last played a school from the SEC in 2004 when knocking off the Vanderbilt Commodores, 29-26, a team that was led by quarterback Jay Cutler. The Midshipmen also beat the Commodores in 2003.
This will be the first meeting with South Carolina since 1988, as the team is 2-0 for the first time since 2006. Navy started 3-0 that year before dropping an overtime decision to Tulsa.
The Midshipmen are leading the nation in rushing, averaging 400.5 yards per game. Navy is also eight in the country in pass efficiency. Quarterback Kriss Proctor has attempted just 14 passes this season, but leads the team with 199 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Navy has scored 40 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time under head coach Ken Niumatalolo. It will likely need to reach that number again in picking up the program’s biggest upset by ranking since the team stunned No. 2 South Carolina, 38-21, in 1984.
college football betting fans will find that the Midshipmen are 59-27 ATS in road games and the ‘over’ is 19-16 in the last 35 opportunities.
South Carolina has started 2-0 for the third time under head coach Steve Spurrier, beating Georgia (45-42) and East Carolina (56-37). Even though the team has scored 101 points in its first two games, it’s still been out-gained by 35 yards over that span.
A victory on Saturday would keep Spurrier’s perfect record against schools outside of BCS automatic qualifying conferences in tact. He is a perfect 42-0 in his career against non-BCS schools, including a 16-0 since arriving in Columbia.
The Gamecocks will also be looking to win their fifth-straight home opener, with the last loss coming in 2006. South Carolina has posted a 6-1 home record in each of the last two seasons. In fact, the team is 14-2 in its last 16 home games.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Stephen Garcia is 18-13 in 31 career starts and became just the third quarterback in school history to throw over 7,000 yards in a career. He wasn’t very sharp in last week’s win over the Bulldogs, completing 11 of 25 passes for 142 yards and two interceptions.
“We need to throw the ball much better. I don’t know how long we will keep getting these big plays,” Spurrier stated. “Basically, we had four touchdowns from the defense and one on a fake punt.”
The Gamecocks lead this all-time series, 4-3.
Bettors will find that the Gamecocks are 7-3 ATS in September and the ‘over’ is 6-3 in those betting prediction contests.
