Gamecocks by Two Scores in Fayetteville

The best player at Razorback Stadium wears garnet

LaNorris Sellers leads South Carolina in passing and rushing. He has 2,100 passing yards with 17 touchdowns and seven picks, plus 637 rushing yards and seven more scores on the ground. On Halloween in Norman he went 19 of 24 for 301 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 96 and two more in a 42-25 win at Oklahoma.

Now look at what he’s walking into. Arkansas gives up 156.2 rushing yards a game. On Saturday, Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown threw for 180 and two touchdowns and ran for 121 more against the Hogs. Sellers is that guy with a bigger arm. Kickoff is 6:45 in Fayetteville, and it could be a long night.

The Hogs can't run it

Arkansas averages 3.2 yards a carry and 20 points a game. The last time the Hogs were at Razorback Stadium, Missouri held them to 59 rushing yards, they turned it over four times and lost 34-10. KJ Jackson has 1,853 passing yards with eight touchdowns and six picks, and he has taken 23 sacks. South Carolina’s defense has 24 sacks and just held Texas A&M to nine points.

When you can’t run and you’re behind the sticks against a team that gets home, you’re living on third-and-8. That’s no way to beat a ranked team.

Four straight for Carolina, four of five lost for the Hogs

The Gamecocks, ranked No. 20, have won four in a row: 38-19 at Florida, 27-24 over Tennessee, 42-25 at Oklahoma and 17-9 over Texas A&M. Arkansas has lost four of its last five, sits at one win and five losses in the SEC, and has dropped three of five at home. The only conference win came at Vanderbilt back in October.

Our numbers say 15, the board says 7.5

Our ratings have South Carolina about 15 points better on this field, so laying seven and a half is the easy part of my week. I’m not playing the total on its own. Our college totals testing never beat the closing number, so 51.5 only shows up as a parlay leg. Give me the Gamecocks laying the points.