ESPN’s long running preview show ‘College Game Day’ has always traveled to the site of the biggest matchup of the week to present their live show and this week they’re headed to the Palmetto State. ESPN has announced that ‘College Game Day’ will be broadcast live from Columbia, South Carolina this Saturday prior to the big SEC contest between the University of South Carolina Gamecocks and the Georgia Bulldogs.
The game itself is taking place at Williams-Brice Stadium but the ESPN show will be broadcast from ‘The Horseshoe’, a heavily wooded and picturesque setting surrounding by stately student housing, classrooms and administration buildings. It’ll be the sixth time that ESPN’s flagship college football show has traveled to Columbia and this game between the Gamecocks and Dawgs may be the highest stakes matchup they’ve covered. Both teams are undefeated at 5-0 and part of a logjam of SEC teams in the top tier of the national rankings. LSU (5-0) is ranked #4, Georgia #5 and South Carolina #6. Gamecocks’ boosters are hoping that history repeats itself–the last time that ‘College Game Day’ broadcast from Columbia the team upset then #1 ranked Alabama back in 2010.
Both Georgia and South Carolina won this weekend though neither team looked dominant. The Bulldogs outlasted the University of Tennessee in a shootout by a final score of 51-44. Despite the win there has to be a concern about the 44 points allowed–heading into this game Georgia hadn’t allowed more than 23 points in a game and was among the top scoring defenses in the country giving up just 16.5 PPG. After the Tennessee game the Bulldogs’ points per game allowed is up to 22 and they’ve dropped to the #47 scoring defense in college football.
The Gamecocks spotted the University of Kentucky a 17-7 halftime lead but came roaring back in the second half outscoring the Wildcats 31-0 the rest of the way en route to a 38-17 victory. The 17 points allowed to Kentucky was the most by the Gamecocks’ defense this year but their PPG against is still impressive–11.2, 6th best in college football and 2nd best in the SEC behind Alabama. The Crimson Tide has allowed a mere 7 PPG, the best scoring defense in college football.
The Georgia game begins a tough scheduling stretch for the Gamecocks who then go on the road to play a couple of top ten teams at #4 LSU and #10 Florida. Georgia has a slightly easier slate, playing at home against Kentucky and on the road versus Florida. The next few weeks will go a long way to determine the winner of the SEC East where Georgia, South Carolina and Florida are all tied with 3-0 conference records.
