The Cool Chicken

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If you were going to write a movie about Arkansas’ year thus far, that would be a good title. Darren McFadden is of course a monster but the rest of his team, is lost. A lot of pre-season hype turned out to be just that.

What is that you say? Arkansas leads the SEC in offense?

This is true. However, their stats are skewed in that most of their yards and points have come in out of conference games. As a matter of fact, they have lost 3 out of 4 games in conference and their only win is over Ole Miss.

No one man makes a team and other than a few blowouts of less than worthy opponents, Arkansas has found that out. Any coach worth his salt has identified the way to beat Arkansas: stack the box and make them beat you throwing.

While as I said it is true that Arkansas leads the SEC in offense, it is all rushing. They are number 1 in rushing offense (and with a guy like McFadden, they should be) and next to last in Passing offense.

I fully expect Steve Spurrier and Tyrone Nix to put all of their marbles on the rushing defense. They will put the big boys on the line and dare Arkansas to throw it. And why not? After all, South Carolina is #2 in the SEC in passing defense. Should be a good plan.

This is key #1 for South Carolina: Limit the rushing attack. We are not going to stop it. Arkansas will run the ball on us, but hopefully, we will be able to limit how much.

The second key is the exact opposite. We have to avoid letting them limit our rushing attack.

Arkansas is no slouch on the defensive side of the ball. They rank third against the pass and 7^th against the rush. This is where we have a chance to rack up some points. Cory Boyd played like a monster like week and hopefully he will have the same sort of week this week.

The third and final key is intangible. Which South Carolina team will show up?

If the South Carolina team that played in the second half against Tennessee and the first half against North Carolina shows up, this will not be a close game. South Carolina will dominate. We have no way of knowing if that will happen though.

Before the season began, I predicted South Carolina to win this game. I still think South Carolina wins this game. But, I think it is going to be a down and dirty, hard fought game that is still undecided late in the third quarter.

Final Prediction: South Carolina 27 Arkansas 21.

It should be a good game to watch.