#332 ASA PLAY ON Kentucky -8.5 over South Carolina, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET - Both won in last week’s season openers but we were less than impressed with South Carolina. The Gamecocks trailed midway through the 4th quarter, scored a TD and then held on for dear life to win 23-19 as a 20+ point favorite vs Old Dominion. We could argue that Old Dominion actually outplayed South Carolina in that game with a 305 to 288 total yardage edge despite the Gamecocks running 17 more offensive snaps. Because of that, the YPP numbers were heavily in favor of the Monarchs (4.2 YPP to 3.2 YPP). Looking even closer, South Carolina scored 2 TD’s in the game and those points came on drives of 3 yards and 6 yards after ODU turnovers. The Monarchs 2 TD’s were both 75 yard drives. SC was a heavy favorite, had a +3 turnover margin in the game and still almost lost at home. Very concerning. Kentucky rolled over Southern Miss last week 31-0 in a game that was called for bad weather early in the 3rd quarter. New Wildcat QB Vandagriff, former 5* transfer from Georgia, looked solid completing 12 of 18 passes with 3 TD’s in just over one half of football. The Cats completely controlled the trenches with 148 yards rushing (they were on pace for close to 300 if game was suspended) while holding USM to just 5 yards rushing. Meanwhile, South Carolina failed to dominate on the line of scrimmage averaging just 3.1 YPC vs ODU while allowing 3.2 YPC. This is a revenger after South Carolina won at home last season 17-14 vs Kentucky despite getting whipped in the trenches with the Wildcats averaging 4.5 YPC while holding SC to 1.5 YPC. Kentucky’s 3 turnovers were the difference in that game. Head coach Stoops was very upset after that loss and has been pointing toward this game early in the 2024 schedule. “That’s a very difficult loss for us right there. We didn't do a better job of putting them in position to be successful,” Stoops said. We like Kentucky to win this one by double digits.