Tennessee returns home after a two-week road trip to host South Carolina at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 9. The Vols and Gamecocks will kick off at noon ET. ESPN2 will broadcast the game.
Tennessee and South Carolina are both beginning rebuilds under first year head coaches. Under Josh Heupel, Tennessee is off to a 2-2 start with an important road trip to Missouri on the horizon.
Under Shane Beamer, South Carolina is 2-2, blowing out Eastern Illinois and beating East Carolina on a game winning field goal. The Gamecocks are on a two-game losing streak to open SEC play, losing at Georgia and at home to Kentucky.
The Gamecocks have a chance to get back in the win column before the road trip to Knoxville, hosting Troy this weekend.
South Carolina’s offense has struggled mightily this season, averaging just 10 points per game since the week one blowout over FCS Eastern Illinois.
The week six matchup will provide a measuring stick between Heupel and Beamer’s programs in their first seasons.
The Gamecocks and Vols have been evenly matched over the past decade, with each team winning five of the last 10 contests. It’s been a series of runs during that stretch as South Carolina won in 2011 and 2012, Tennessee won three straight from 2013-15, South Carolina won three straight from 2016-2018 and the Vols have won back-to-back entering this season’s matchup.
Other top SEC matchups on Oct. 9 include Arkansas at Ole Miss and Georgia at Auburn. CBS will decide which one of those games it wants to broadcast next Sunday. The other will be on ESPN at noon ET. The CBS primetime 8 p.m. ET kick off will include Alabama and Texas A&M.
You can view the the whole SEC schedule here.
