How and what to watch for Missouri vs. South Carolina

The South Carolina Gamecocks became the first Power 5 program to fire their head coach earlier this week when Will Muschamp was let go. How will South Carolina respond when it plays the Missouri Tigers at home on Saturday?

South Carolina is coming in with a 2-5 record coming off a 59-42 loss to Ole Miss. The Gamecocks have given up 48 points or more in each of their last three games. Mike Bobo will take over as the interim head coach for South Carolina. After a seven-game sample size, the Gamecocks allowed 6.5 points per play, 107th in college football. They have been unable to stop teams threw the air.

Missouri is 2-3 so far in Year 1 under Eliah Drinkwitz and hasn’t seen the field since a 41-17 road loss to Florida on Halloween. The Tigers do not have much of a running game, as they rank 104th with 3.4 yards per attempt. Missouri is a much better passing team, and it should be able to find some success against this South Carolina pass defense.

Missouri snapped a three-game losing streak in this series, pulling off a 34-14 home win in 2019.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Missouri vs. South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network Alt, or you can stream it via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Missouri (-5.5) vs. South Carolina
Point Total: 57.5
Money line: Missouri (-195) vs. South Carolina (+155)

• Missouri is 3-9 against the spread in its last 12 games and is 3-8 straight up in its last 11.
• The point total went under in nine of Missouri’s last 11 games, but the over cashed in five of South Carolina’s last seven.
• South Carolina is 2-8 straight up in its last 10 games and is 1-4 straight up in its last five home games.

Betting splits

Missouri: (57% of handle, 59% percent of bets)
South Carolina: (43% of handle, 41% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

Sure Missouri won’t have a whole lot to play for, but motivation has to be in its favor. Missouri is in Year 1 under a new head coach who is trying to establish the culture of the program. I’m not sure how South Carolina gets itself motivated for this game when the administration essentially gave up on the season, which also led to several starters opting out. Let’s go with the Tigers to do some damage on the road.

Pick: Missouri -5.5

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