• Vanderbilt @ South Carolina: Over 57.5 — This is a buy-low spot for a Vanderbilt offense that has played an incredibly tough schedule of SEC defenses over the last six weeks in Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida, Missouri and Kentucky.
• A much easier matchup for the Commodores — South Carolina is significantly worse than all of those teams in the secondary, so there is plenty of reason to believe a Vanderbilt offense can find its feet once again. After all, the Commodores posted excellent numbers against similar-strength coverage defenses — such as Wake Forest — earlier in the season.
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And just like that, the college football regular season is drawing to a close.
Florida State, Georgia and Michigan look set to make the playoffs (barring any last-minute hiccups), while the competition for the last spot is wide open.
Ohio State and Oregon are currently the two most likely teams to make it, but Texas, Washington and Alabama are all in with a chance. Penn State can also put themselves back in the picture with a big win over Michigan this weekend.
The betting market is significantly more efficient at this stage of the year, so it will get progressively harder to find opportunities late in the week. However, there are a few spots that still have small value. Oklahoma State and its vastly improved offense is laying less than three against UCF, while San Jose State and its dominant run game is a home underdog against Fresno State. However, the best bet remaining on this week's games is in South Carolina.
Vanderbilt @ South Carolina: Over 57.5 (-110 FanDuel)
There are some light rain showers expected for this game, though that likely won't affect the contest in a meaningful way.
This is a buy-low spot for a Vanderbilt offense that has played an incredibly tough schedule of SEC defenses over the last six weeks in Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida, Missouri and Kentucky.
South Carolina is significantly worse than all of those teams in the secondary, so there is plenty of reason to believe a Vanderbilt offense can find its feet once again. After all, the Commodores posted excellent numbers against similar-strength coverage defenses — such as Wake Forest — earlier in the season.
Commodores WR Quincy Skinner returns to the lineup, having missed the last two games with an ankle injury. And although QB A.J. Swann is getting healthier, the job is Ken Seals’ until the end of the season.
South Carolina has struggled to run the ball in a meaningful way for a lot of the year. Running back Mario Anderson is averaging 5.0 yards per carry but has accounted for just two rushing touchdowns, while second-string option and goal-line threat Dakereon Joyner is averaging 2.3 yards per carry and has five touchdowns.
The 13 rushing touchdowns the team has produced this season is 70th in the FBS, but the 4.4 yards per carry — not including sack yardage — ranks 102nd. The good news is that they are not playing the likes of Texas A&M or Georgia this week and are instead facing a team ranked inside the bottom 10 in schedule-adjusted rushing defense.
South Carolina has fielded a somewhat one-dimensional offense this season, but we should expect them to be able to move the ball in a number of ways this week, with Vanderbilt also fielding a worse-than-average coverage unit that allows a 45% success rate and 0.142 EPA per play to opposing passing offenses, the latter ranking seventh-worst among Power Five schools.
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