South Carolina football has its best SEC point spread of the season against Missouri
South Carolina football keeps trending upward, and Las Vegas sportsbooks keep noticing. But bettors aren’t totally sold on a ranked Gamecocks squad just yet.
No. 25 USC is a consensus four-point favorite heading into Saturday’s home game against Missouri, according to VegasInsider.com.
Assuming that line holds, it’ll mark the first time South Carolina (5-2, 2-2 SEC) has been favored against an SEC opponent this season.
So far, though, bettors nationwide have been far more confident in Missouri’s chances to cover. The Tigers (3-4, 1-3 SEC) have picked up 66% of the bets and 93% of the money on bets against the spread as of Thursday morning, per VegasInsider.
That means a majority of gamblers are counting on Missouri to stay within four points of South Carolina on Saturday afternoon or beat the Gamecocks straight up.
The thought process extends to money-line bets, too, where Missouri has 43% of the bets and 91% of the money to beat South Carolina (-181) straight up as a road underdog. Those odds means that a successful $100 bet on a Mizzou victory would win $181 and net $281 total.
USC has 57% of money-line bets but just 34% of bets against the spread.
Consider those trends a nod toward recent series and opponent history. Missouri has won three straight games against SEC East rival South Carolina, including last year as a home underdog, and USC has a very limited history as a betting favorite under coach Shane Beamer.
In the Beamer era, the Gamecocks have only been favored in two of 12 SEC games heading into this weekend, per Odds Shark data.
And they’re 0-2 against the spread in those games, losing to Missouri by three as a 1.5-point road favorite and beating Vanderbilt by one as a 19-point home favorite during the 2021 season.
USC has been the underdog in its first four SEC games of 2022 but twice outperformed Vegas expectations. The Gamecocks lost early games to Arkansas and Georgia before scoring upset wins over No. 19 Kentucky as a 4.5-point underdog and Texas A&M as a three-point underdog.
Those upset wins continue a trend dating back to Beamer’s debut season, when the Gamecocks beat Florida as a 20.5-point underdog and Auburn as a seven-point underdog.
USC enters Saturday’s game against Missouri on a four-game winning streak, its longest since the 2013 season, and can lock up bowl eligibility with a win at Williams-Brice Stadium.
A win over Missouri would also give USC its first five-game winning streak since the 2013 season and six wins over its first eight games for the first time since the 2017 season.
Series history against the Tigers, though, indicates a close contest. South Carolina is 5-5 overall in 10 SEC games against Missouri and 5-5 against the spread in those games. The Gamecocks haven’t won or covered against Missouri since 2018 in the “Michael Scarnecchia Game.”
As for this season: Both programs are 4-3 against the spread in seven games, South Carolina is 3-2 against the spread at home and Missouri is 2-1 against the spread on the road.
Saturday’s kickoff is set for 4 p.m. on SEC Network.
SEC Week 9 odds
Arkansas (-3.5) at Auburn
Florida at No. 1 Georgia (-22.5)
Missouri at No. 25 South Carolina (-4)
No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee (-12.5)
No. 15 Ole Miss (-2) at Texas A&M
