Arkansas South Carolina Betting – Gamecocks Try To Fend Off Hogs At Home
In what is a curiously not-very-meaningful football game, Arkansas Razorbacks and South Carolina Gamecocks will play a game that will be more valuable for bowl positioning than anything else.
NCAA football betting: Arkansas Razorbacks @ South Carolina Gamecocks
Online Betting Odds: South Carolina -3
Why To Bet On Arkansas
The Razorbacks are deep at the wide receiver spot, which means that they can overcome the loss of their prime receiver, Greg Childs, who got knocked out for the remainder of the regular season this past Saturday against Vanderbilt. Jarius Wright caught two touchdown passes against Vanderbilt, and he’s joined by Julian Horton and tight end Chris Gragg. Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino is adept at finding weaknesses in an opposing defense, and South Carolina has plenty of them, especially in the secondary. Gamecock cornerback Chris Culliver got smoked repeatedly last weekend at Tennessee; his instincts were poor, but he also got injured midway through the game and was not performing at maximum speed. At any rate, with Culliver unable to play at a high level, the Gamecocks’ back line of defense is extremely vulnerable, so even though Arkansas will be missing its top receiver, the Hogs should have plenty of options for quarterback Ryan Mallett to throw to. South Carolina is a solid run-stuffing team, but the Gamecocks can’t defend the pass very well. Arkansas’ strength on offense? Passing the ball. That’s pretty much why the Razorbacks are in good position to win this game, even on the road. South Carolina’s offense is potent, but it’s also very mistake-prone. The Gamecocks committed multiple turnovers plus all sorts of penalties in their ragged and ugly 38-24 win over a bad Tennessee team on Oct. 30. The Gamecocks have won their past two games, but that’s only because they’ve come against the bottom-feeders in the SEC East Division.
Why To Bet On South Carolina
The Gamecocks are playing this game at home and at night, which always helps in the cutthroat world of the SEC. Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett has won only one SEC road game in his two-year career at the school, and that came early in the year against the Georgia Bulldogs, a team that is now 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference. In essence, the college football world is still waiting for Mallett to beat a high-caliber SEC opponent away from home in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The loss of Greg Childs certainly does deprive Arkansas of its best and biggest home-run threat in the passing game, and that will relieve at least some pressure from a South Carolina secondary that can keep Arkansas receivers in front of it and not get beaten deep. As long as the Gamecocks can force Arkansas to move the ball slowly and settle for field goals in the red zone, Carolina has the offense which – with stud running back Marcus Lattimore – can gash the Razorbacks’ suspect defense and win what figures to be a high-scoring game.
How The Game Will Play Out
South Carolina might be playing at home, but one thing to realize about this game is that unless Vanderbilt (with its star tailback, Warren Norman, out due to an injury) upsets Florida early in the afternoon, South Carolina will not be able to clinch the SEC East title in this game. An expected Florida win over Vandy will force Carolina to win on November 13 in Gainesville, rendering this Arkansas game meaningless in a larger sense. The Hogs will play with more fire and the Gamecocks will be distracted. Take Arkansas on the road, because Carolina will almost certainly be looking ahead to Florida. Only if Vandy stuns Florida does South Carolina become an attractive choice in this game.
Arkansas South Carolina Betting Pick: Arkansas
