South Carolina football facing biggest point spread against Missouri in 4 years

Chapel Fowler
Sam Wolfe/Special To The State

After a late-game collapse against Florida, the South Carolina football team is two games below .500 for the first time under coach Shane Beamer.

That’s reflected in this week’s betting line against Missouri, an annual SEC Eastern Division opponent having a much different sort of season.

USC (2-4, 1-3 SEC) is a seven-point underdog for Saturday’s game at No. 20 Mizzou (6-1, 2-1 SEC), according to the VegasInsider.com consensus line that factors in multiple sportsbooks.

It’s the Gamecocks’ worst point spread against the Tigers since 2019, when Mizzou won 34-14 back in the Will Muschamp era as a 9.5-point home favorite, and their fourth time as a betting underdog in seven games this season.

USC was a 1.5-point road favorite at Missouri in 2021 and a 3.5-point home favorite against Missouri in 2022 and lost both games. In 2020, the Gamecocks were a 4.5-point home underdog and lost.

Gamblers also like Missouri’s chances of making it five straight wins in the series and of covering the spread against South Carolina. As of Wednesday, 62% of the bets against the spread and 82% of the money on those bets against the spread going to the Tigers, per VegasInsider.

That means most bettors are expecting Mizzou to beat South Carolina by seven or more points in Saturday’s game (3:30 p.m., SEC Network). Mizzou also has 65% of the money-line bets, or straight-up win-loss bets, entering the weekend.

The betting trends are representative of the opposite directions the SEC division rivals are going this season in Year 3 for Shane Beamer and Year 4 for Eliah Drinkwitz.

Beamer’s Gamecocks have dropped two games in a row and are winless in road/neutral games, though all three of those losses have come to teams ranked in this week’s AP Top 25: No. 1 Georgia, No. 10 UNC and No. 17 Tennessee.

South Carolina, which has the nation’s fifth-toughest strength of schedule out of 133 FBS teams per ESPN, has only picked up wins against FCS Furman and Mississippi State.

Drinkwitz, meanwhile, has Missouri rolling and off to a 6-1 start with its only loss coming to No. 19 LSU in shootout fashion. The Tigers have made three straight bowls, are already bowl-eligible for 2023 and rank No. 20 in this week’s AP Top 25, their highest mark since 2014.

Quarterback Brady Cook has 300-plus passing yards in four of his last five games, and star wide receiver Luther Burden III — the No. 3 recruit in the Class of 2022 — is second nationally with 808 receiving yards and fourth nationally with 56 catches.

Missouri’s start has eliminated any hot seat discussion for Drinkwitz, who is 3-0 against South Carolina as the Tigers’ coach and also beat USC in 2019 when he was coaching App State.

Missouri leads the all-time series with South Carolina 8-5 and is 6-5 against the Gamecocks since moving from the Big 12 for the SEC ahead of the 2012 season. The winner of the game gets a silver Mayor’s Cup trophy, a nod to both schools playing in a city named Columbia.

South Carolina’s last win against Missouri came in 2018.

A few more betting notes for USC-Missouri, via Odds Shark.

  • South Carolina is 3-3 against the spread and most recently failed to cover against Florida as a 1-point favorite (lost by two points).

  • Missouri is 4-3 against the spread this season and most recently covered against Kentucky as a 1.5-point underdog (won by 17 points).

  • USC is 5-6 overall and 5-6 against the spread versus Missouri in SEC games. For road games at Mizzou, the team is also even: 2-3 overall and 2-3 against the spread.

  • South Carolina is 2-8 overall and 4-6 against the spread in its last 10 games as a road underdog.

  • Missouri is 8-2 but only 2-8 against the spread in its last 10 games as a home favorite.

SEC Week 8 odds

Consensus lines via VegasInsider.com

  • Mississippi State at Arkansas (-5.5)

  • No. 17 Tennessee at No. 11 Alabama (-8.5)

  • South Carolina at No. 20 Missouri (-7)

  • No. 13 Ole Miss (-6.5) at Auburn

  • Army at No. 19 LSU (-30.5)

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