The South Carolina Gamecocks are set to square off with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on January 2nd at the Capital One bowl.
Looking at the early sports betting line it has South Carolina at – 2 ½. Some have the game at -1 for USC but as we looked at most casino online betting lines right now they go from -1 to -3 and it seems encouraging people to take Nebraska in this game.
This Gamecocks blog would be bias, wait we are, in saying that the Gamecocks will win. This game boils down to which team has success running the ball and stopping the run.
USC, as a team, averages 198 yards per game on the ground. Nebraska, as a team, averages 223 yards per game on the ground. For both teams, when they have been successful is when the run game is successful.
The game also pits South Carolina’s No. 45-ranked offense, averaging 30.1 PPG, against a Cornhuskers defense that ranks No. 39 at 22.8 PPG. The Gamecocks aerial game is averaging 177.4 yards per game, less than the Cornhuskers secondary allows through the air, 189.1 YPG per game.
Defensively, the Cornhuskers feature the league’s No. 66-rated run defense, allowing 161 yards per game. The Gamecocks enter as the No. 2 ranked pass defense in the country (133 YPG) and 44th in run defense (135.9 YPG).
In summary, South Carolina has the edge in this game as said before the key to obtaining the win is stopping the run. USC can and will do this. Just look at this stat to see why….USC is only allowing opponents to average 3.7 yards per carry this year, one of the better marks in the SEC, which is really saying something considering the fact that Alabama and LSU are both in this conference as well.
