Tennessee football is looking for its first SEC win of the season Saturday night when they host South Carolina at Neyland Stadium. The Vols are 12.5-point favorites over the Gamecocks as they look to avenge last season’s loss in Columbia.
Here’s three keys for Tennessee football to get defeat South Carolina.
More From RTI: See The RTI Staff’s Game Predictions For Tennessee-South Carolina
Start Fast
The national perspective is that Tennessee is a pass heavy offense under head coach Josh Heupel and is well suited to play from behind with that passing attack and its uptempo offense.
That perspective says the opposite about South Carolina. The Gamecocks play Beamer Ball, leaning on its pro style offense to play ball management and field position. An identity that doesn’t bode well for South Carolina if they fall behind early in a game.
But neither narrative applies to the 2023 Vols and Gamecocks. Tennessee’s passing game is extremely limited and the Vols’ offense is built to lean on their running game and play with a lead. On the contrary, South Carolina has a strong passing attack and a high level quarterback that makes it plausible for them to play effectively from behind.
So while Tennessee can’t put South Carolina away with a strong first quarter, they can dig themselves a hole that will be difficult to climb out of.
Starting fast, getting the offense some momentum and feeding the frenzied home crowd at Neyland Stadium is a winning recipe for the Vols.
Tennessee’s Offense Win On First Down
Tennessee’s offense winning on first down is important for a lot of the same reasons starting fast is.
The Vols passing game has been extremely limited this season having very little success throwing the ball over the middle or in the intermediate passing game. Josh Heupel and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle can scheme around that deficiency some but it becomes nearly impossible if Tennessee is frequently in third-and-long.
That’s exactly what happened to Tennessee to weeks ago at Florida when the Vols totaled just two first downs in their final four drives of the first half.
Tennessee has a strong running game and South Carolina’s run defense has been susceptible so far this season. That gives the Vols a realistic path to being successful on first down throughout the afternoon.
Avoiding third-and-longs, and third-and-intermediate to a lesser extent, is extremely important for Tennessee and that’s why they need to win on first down.
Consistently Pressure Spencer Rattler
Tennessee’s ability to get to Spencer Rattler and make his life difficult is the biggest key to this matchup in my estimation.
The logic is extremely simple. South Carolina has a strong receiving core and Rattler has been extremely accurate and effective throwing the football this season. Tennessee’s secondary is its defense’s biggest weakness if not the team’s biggest weakness.
If Rattler has time to throw, he’s bound to light up Tennessee’s secondary for a second straight season putting an abundance of pressure on Joe Milton III and the Vols’ offense at the same time.
The good news for Tennessee is that South Carolina’s offensive line is a real weakness. The Gamecocks have struggled to protect Rattler this season including allowing nine sacks against North Carolina.
Tennessee’s pass rush is hard to get a complete grasp of through four weeks. They’ve been extremely effective against Virginia, Austin Peay and UTSA but struggled, in albeit limited pass rush opportunities, against Florida.
Figuring out which pass rush is closer to reality for Tennessee is hard to tell. But against a poor running game they’ll get plenty of opportunities in obvious passing downs to pin their ears back and go after Rattler.
