Tennessee football: Vols, SEC, top 25 predictions for Week Eight of 2019
No. 9 Florida Gators at South Carolina Gamecocks
Line: Florida -5; Over/Under: 48.5; TV: ESPN
Saturday, Oct. 19 at Noon E.T.; Williams-Brice Stadium; Columbia, S.C.
We’re starting things off with one of the toughest picks of the week. The Florida Gators and South Carolina Gamecocks feature a team that blew out Tennessee football earlier this year and another team that managed to upstage the Vols’ upset win last week with an even bigger one under their own much-maligned head coach who was a former Nick Saban assistant.
Will Muschamp took a third-string quarterback into Athens in Dakereon Joyner and upset an extremely talented Georgia Bulldogs team in double-overtime. They cashed in on three turnovers and a missed field goal in double-overtime, but hey, they have some momentum now. At 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the SEC, they’ll be looking for another major upset this week, this time at home.
Heading into Columbia, the Florida Gators are coming off a tough 42-28 loss at the LSU Tigers. However, the good news for them is it was a non-divisional loss on the road to one of the top three teams in the nation. So if they win out, they still have everything in front of them. But can they handle a rejuvenated South Carolina team?
Prediction
This was a hard one to pick, but we’re going to go with Florida. South Carolina cashed in on too many mistakes from UGA last week, and the Dawgs were never prepared for the mobility of Joyner at quarterback. Florida will be, and they now won’t be taking the Gamecocks lightly. As a result, they’ll win in a game that hits the under. And they’ll cover since the line is only five.