College Football ATS Picks - South Carolina at Missouri Game Preview

The South Carolina Gamecocks started their season with a bang. With all the talk about North Carolina State’s sleeper status prior to their meeting, you’d think the Gamecocks were considered a pushover. Will Muschamp’s boys came out with something to prove and ended up pulling off the upset against the Wolfpack. Now there are a lot of people expecting them to do well against their second opponent of the season, the Missouri Tigers.

Kickoff for this regular season Week 2 game is set for Saturday, September 9, 2017, at 7 p.m.

ET at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. This game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu

South Carolina +2.5
Missouri -2.5
Over/Under 72

Odds Analysis

Missouri looked lackluster on defense through the first half against Missouri State last week. The Tigers gave up big play after big play to their FCS opponent and their game went into halftime with 83 points on the board. Mizzou turned it on in the second half, only allowing eight points the rest of the way, while the offense continued to toy with their in-state brethren. This game ended up cruising over the total in the first half.

The line movement against South Carolina was insane in this one. The hype about NC State caused this line to swing double digits over the offseason, but the Gamecocks had the last laugh and ended up covering all numbers. The game finished well over the total too as few believed South Carolina could put up 35 points on NC State’s defense.

Player to Watch

Drew Lock threw for 521 yards and seven touchdowns in Missouri’s season opener and looks poised to lead the SEC in passing again. What’s impressive about Lock is that he is lighting up defense without being particularly accurate with his throws. Lock missed a number of open receivers last year and did so again versus Missouri State last Saturday.

He is going to throw the ball a lot this season because of the offense he is in. Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel likes to hurry it up as much as possible and trusts Lock to make the right reads in his offense. No team was faster at getting plays off than Missouri last season and the Tigers will try to play at a breakneck pace again in 2017.

Heupel’s schemes give Lock plenty of options and he constantly has receivers running in space. If he can make a greater percentage of these throws, Missouri would instantly be a contender for the SEC East.

Key Stats

When you’re breaking down the number, it’s sort of incredible to imagine how South Carolina won that game. The Gamecocks only had 12 first downs to NC State’s 29, ran half the number of plays, and had half the number of total yards.

Field position was the reason behind the surprising South Carolina win. NC State only turned it over twice all game long, but gave South Carolina the ball on their side of the field and saw the Gamecocks punch both possessions home for six. In another drive, a long punt return set up South Carolina, and the Gamecocks also got a kickoff return touchdown to start things off in the game.

Free ATS Pick

The Gamecocks caught lightning in a bottle against the Wolfpack and they will be overrated heading into this one. Those kind of plays aren’t sustainable over the course of a season and Missouri won’t make the same special teams errors that NC State did.

Laying less than a field goal with Missouri at home is a great play. The Tigers pretty clearly sleepwalked in the first half against Missouri State and looked like a different team when they came back in the second. South Carolina will get all their attention this time around.

College Football Odds: Tigers 34, Gamecocks 24

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