#7 South Carolina at #2 Florida
Where: The Swamp
When: Saturday at 3:30 EST (why do they have to schedule these things during ND games…c’mon, man)
Last time they met: South Carolina won last year’s matchup 17-12, finishing its 2011 sweep of the SEC East.
Ugh. I’m thinking about just re-titling this weekly post as “This Week, in the SEC Title Hunt…” Let’s hope this game is a bit more exciting than last week’s South Carolina vs. LSU matchup. Suffocating defenses are a lot of fun to watch if they are A) Notre Dame or B) in the NFL. In the rest of college football, I would take an offensive shootout over a defensive battle any day. Then again, who knows if SEC defenses are really that good or if their offenses are as bad as they sometimes seem – a bit of the chicken or the egg argument. On an unrelated note, the egg clearly came before the chicken.
In last week’s Marquee Matchup, I wrote that if South Carolina got through LSU with a win they would have a good shot at running the table during the regular season. Well, that didn’t work out for them. Oh well. This week, the Gators find themselves in a similar position. Though matchups against Georgia and Florida State remain, Moooosechump and company also play what are essentially exhibition games against Louisiana-Lafayette and Jacksonville State. Way to challenge yourselves, guys. [Insert your own comment about Notre Dame’s strength of schedule right here]
Don’t expect Connor Shaw or Jeff Driskel to do anything fancy in the passing game. Or, if they try, don’t expect them to succeed. And don’t expect to see any huge rushing yardage, either. So, um, I guess expect to see a lot of punting. Blah. I’ll tell you what, if this, the 234th Marquee Matchup from the SEC turns out to be another dud, I’ll be sure to find you some games outside of the Southeast going forward.
I jinxed myself last week by talking about my 4-1 record against the spread, so while I was right about LSU coming out as the victors, they were 1 point short covering the spread. Good thing I don’t actually gamble. This week, as the Gators are hoping to keep their championship hopes alive as 3 point favorites at home, I am looking to get back on track with my winning predictions. Final score: Florida 21, South Carolina 13.
As a bonus, a classic Muschamp swearing clip. Keep the volume down at work:
Previous predictions:
[table “” not found /]Twibby’s 2012 Record vs. Spread: 4-2
Proof that, sooner or later, everyone comes around to love the Irish.
After growing up as a Notre Dame hating, misguided youth, it only took one visit to campus during high school for Twibby to realize the error of his ways. From that point on Twibby and the Irish have had what can only be described as a true Hollywood love story. When he's not reminiscing about his time in South Bend and pondering ways to get a 5th year of eligibility as a student, Twibby writes about Notre Dame and the rest of the college football world for HLS. Along with the Irish, he is a diehard fan of the Chicago Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks and Cubs with a strange affection for Northwestern Wildcats football.
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