Gamecocks Travel to Nashville for Saturday Showdown with Vanderbilt

The South Carolina Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3 SEC) will be looking to become bowl-eligible this week when they travel to Nashville, Tenn. for a battle with the #24/25 Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3, 3-2 SEC). Game time is set for 4:15 pm ET (3:15 pm CT) at FirstBank Stadium (28,934). 

OVER THE AIRWAVES: This week’s contest will be televised on the SEC Network. Dave Neal will handle the play-by-play with Aaron Murray providing the color commentary. Ashley ShahAmadi will patrol the sidelines. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock Great quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (33rd season) and analyst Tommy Suggs (52nd season). Chet Tucker returns for his second year as the sideline reporter.

HOW WE GOT THIS FAR: The Gamecocks are 5-3 overall and own a 3-3 mark in SEC play. All three of South Carolina’s losses have come to ranked opponents with two of setbacks not decided until the game’s final play. They opened the campaign with a hard-fought 23-19 win over Old Dominion, then dominated Kentucky in the SEC opener, winning by a 31-6 count in Lexington. The Gamecocks were unable to hold onto a 17-0 first half lead in a heartbreaking 36-33 setback to No. 16/17 LSU, then bounced back with a convincing 50-7 rout of Akron to improve to 3-1. The Gamecocks dropped their next two contests to highly-ranked opponents, coming up on the short end of a 27-3 decision to No. 12/11 Ole Miss in Columbia, then suffering another gut wrenching defeat in a 27-25 loss at No. 7/7 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They have responded with back-to-back wins, first a convincing 35-9 dismantling of Oklahoma in Norman then, after an off week, scoring the game’s final 27 points in a 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M.

THEY CALL IT A STREAK: The Gamecocks have won each of the last 15 contests with the Commodores, a streak that started in 2009. South Carolina has outscored Vanderbilt 430-220, or an average of 29-15 during that stretch, including a convincing 47-6 win in Columbia last season.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Gamecocks have logged a pair of impressive road wins this season, posting a 31-6 victory at Kentucky and winning in a 35-9 rout at Oklahoma. They are in search of their third conference road win of the season, something they have not accomplished since 2011 when they won at Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee en route to an 11-2 mark overall and a 6-2 SEC record.

A LITTLE HISTORY: 2024 marks year four of the Shane Beamer Era and the 131st season of intercollegiate football at the University of South Carolina, dating back to 1892. It is the 118th-consecutive year in which South Carolina has competed on the gridiron. The University did not field a team in either 1893 or 1906. Carolina owns an all-time record of 639-616-44, a .509 winning percentage. Since the start of the 21st century, the Gamecocks are 173-134, a .564 winning clip. In four seasons under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 25-21, a .543 winning percentage. This week’s game is No. 1,300 in school history.

IT JUST MEANS MORE: The 2024 season is South Carolina’s 33rd year in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina and Arkansas joined the SEC prior to the 1992 campaign. The Gamecocks earned the SEC Eastern Division title in the 2010 season. The Gamecocks are 112-151-1 (.426) all-time in SEC regular season play but posted a 42-38 (.525) record in conference action from 2010-19. Under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 13-17 in SEC play, a .433 winning clip.

CAROLINA VS. VANDY: This is the 34th all-time meeting between South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks hold a commanding 29-4 advantage in the series, including a 15-2 record when the games have been played in Nashville and a 14-2 mark when the teams have met in Columbia. The teams met just once (1961) before they became SEC Eastern Division rivals in 1992 and have met every year since. 

IN DOMINATING FASHION: The Gamecocks have won each of the last 15 games between the two squads, their longest winning streak in the series, and 22 of the last 24 meetings between these two SEC rivals. Of the Division I FBS opponents against whom the Gamecocks have at least 10 all-time meetings, Carolina has its best winning percentage against Vanderbilt at .879. In the previous 33 outings, Vanderbilt has tallied more than 17 points just eight times (24 in 2003, 28 in 2005, 24 in 2008, 25 in 2013, a record-high 34 in 2014, 27 in 2017, 20 in 2021 and 27 in 2022). 

THE OUTLIERS: Vanderbilt’s four wins in the series have come in back-to-back fashion on two occasions – first in 1998 and ‘99, then again in 2007 and ‘08. Those four wins have been by a combined total of 22 points (17-14, 11-10, 17-6 and 24-17).

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: South Carolina scored 34 second-half points in a 47-6 blowout of Vanderbilt on Nov. 11, 2023, in Columbia, extending the Gamecocks’ winning streak to 15-straight games over the Commodores. Spencer Rattler threw for 351 yards and three scores and ran for a fourth, Xavier Legette caught nine passes for 120 yards and Mario Anderson carried nine times for 102 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown burst in the win. Bam Martin-Scott, making his first career start, responded with a game-high 13 tackles, while Keenan Nelson Jr. blocked a punt and returned it 18-yards to paydirt. In its most complete game of the season, Carolina outgained the Commodores 487-234.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET HERE: South Carolina put up 17 first-quarter points, had a season-high 31 points in the first half, and never looked back in a 38-27 win at Vanderbilt on Nov. 5, 2022, in Nashville. Quarterback Spencer Rattler had a solid performance, completing 18-of-26 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. caught four passes for 110 yards and two scores in the win. He had a 17-yard TD reception from Rattler and a 68-yard catch-and-run for a score from Dakereon Joyner. Kai Kroeger booted five punts for a 53.6-yard average, including kicks of 69 and 66 yards, with two of his punts downed inside the 20, earning co-SEC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. In addition, Kroeger, who was also the holder on placements, completed a 16-yard pass on a fake field goal for a first down.

DROPPING THE ANCHOR: Vanderbilt has recorded at least two wins over every team that made up the old SEC Eastern Division since its last win over South Carolina in 2008. They have topped Kentucky seven times (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2022, 2024), Tennessee five times (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018), Missouri three times (2012, 2015, 2019), Florida twice (2013, 2022) and Georgia twice (2013, 2016) in that span.

IT JUST MEANS MORE: Carolina has just one player on its roster that is from the Volunteer State. Walk-on offensive lineman Campbell Vandiver is from Brentwood, just outside Nashville and graduated from Lipscomb Academy.

OLD FRIEND ALERT: Dawn Ellerbe, who has half as many titles at Vanderbilt (3) – Assistant Vice Chancellor/Senior Associate Athletics Director-Communications/Senior Woman Administrator) as she had All-America certificates while a track & field student-athlete at South Carolina (6), has ties to both programs. The former U.S. Olympian was inducted into the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.