Gamecocks ready to rebound
After back-to-back losses to Southeastern Conference foes Vanderbilt and Tennessee, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is not a happy man these days.
But the Gamecocks find themselves in two positive historical roles today against Arkansas, and I recommend taking the five points and backing South Carolina.
First of all, Spurrier is 7-1-1 against the spread as a road underdog as the Gamecocks’ coach and an equally impressive 6-2 against the spread off a straight-up loss. Also, South Carolina will be out to avenge last season’s 26-20 home loss to the Razorbacks.
Arkansas’ five wins have come against teams with less than stellar reputations — Troy, North Texas, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Mississippi and Florida International.
The Gamecocks have won at Georgia and let one slip away last week against the Volunteers at Knoxville, Tenn.
Spurrier has rotated quarterbacks this season, but he went back to senior Blake Mitchell in the Tennessee game, and Mitchell responded by passing for 290 yards in the 27-24 overtime defeat.
The Razorbacks still have a one-dimensional offense heavily dependent on the outstanding running abilities of tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.
Despite some significant losses to injury, South Carolina still has enough defensive horses to slow the Hogs’ running game and possibly get the outright win.
Other selections for today (home team in CAPS):
• North Carolina State (+111/2) over MIAMI — Although much of it was accomplished under former coach Chuck Amato, the Wolfpack is 16-5 against the spread as a road ‘dog the past eight seasons. The team appears to be finding its way under first-year coach Tom O’Brien after defeating East Carolina and Virginia the past two weeks.
The Hurricanes are coming off a bye after upsetting Florida State, but they are 7-15 ATS in their past 22 games as favorites and 3-9 ATS off their past 12 straight-up victories.
• Maryland (+21/2) over NORTH CAROLINA — The Tar Heels have not fared well as home favorites in recent years, compiling a 5-13 ATS mark in the role in the past eight seasons. North Carolina has shown improvement under first-year coach Butch Davis but has defeated only one Division I opponent.
Maryland is 4-4, but all of its losses were against bowl-bound teams — West Virginia, Wake Forest, Virginia and Clemson. I’ll take the points with the better team and the better running game.
• TOLEDO (-71/2) over Eastern Michigan — Seventh-year coach Tom Amstutz is 19-10 as a home favorite at Toledo and 12-4-1 the past five years in November.
The Rockets totaled 113 points in their last two games and look to be back to their former offensive ways with Aaron Opelt showing nice development at quarterback.
Eastern Michigan defeated Toledo 17-13 last season, and the Rockets have not forgotten that loss.
• Texas-OKLAHOMA STATE (Over 61) — This is not a low total, but these Big 12 South foes figure to score a lot. The Longhorns have averaged 48.5 points per game in their past four games against the Cowboys and did not score fewer than 36 points in any of those games.
On the other side, Oklahoma State’s offense has been clicking since running back Dantrell Savage has returned to 100 percent.
Also, the Longhorns are susceptible to permitting big plays in the secondary, and Cowboys wide receiver Adarius Bowman probably will post big numbers in this one.
Last week: 1-5-1 against the spread
Season: 18-29-2
Texas-based handicapper Paul Stone of Vegas Sports Authority (vegassportsauthority.com) is providing weekly college football analysis for the Review-Journal this season.
