The Mississippi State Bulldogs take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. Check out our college football odds series for our Mississippi State South Carolina prediction and pick. Find how to watch Mississippi State South Carolina.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs and South Carolina Gamecocks are part of a mushy middle in the SEC. Who knows how good these teams are in general? That's one question worth asking through three games. How good are these teams compared to most of the teams in the SEC? That's also a good question. We don't know, and we're going to begin to learn about these teams in this game.
South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was hoping to have a big season in 2023. He torched Tennessee and won on the road at Clemson in November of 2022. He and the Gamecocks hoped those two wins would set the table for a breakout year this year. It hasn't happened. Rattler deserves a measure of the blame for South Carolina's offensive failures, but most of the blame has to go to the offensive line, which has played poorly and has not given Rattler much time to survey defenses and go through his progressions. South Carolina has to figure out its offensive line if it is going to do anything of note this season.
Mississippi State is going through its own growing pains this season under first-year head coach Zach Arnett. The biggest decision Arnett made in the offseason was to move away from the Mike Leach air raid after the coach's death. Arnett wanted a different offense, which meant that his personnel would have to adjust to a new scheme. That is a lot of complexity and difficulty to invite into a season. Arnett could have kept the Leach scheme intact and created stability and continuity, but he didn't. MSU's offense has struggled a lot in September, and Arnett has to find solutions quickly.
Here are the Mississippi State-South Carolina College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Football Odds: Mississippi State-South Carolina Odds
Mississippi State Bulldogs: +6.5 (-110)
South Carolina Gamecocks: -6.5 (-110)
Over: 48.5 (-110)
Under: 48.5 (-110)
How To Watch Mississippi State vs. South Carolina
TV: SEC Network
Stream: ESPN Plus
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT
*Watch Mississippi State vs South Carolina LIVE on fuboTV (click for free trial)*
Why Mississippi State Could Cover the Spread
The South Carolina offensive line is a mess. Georgia controlled that offensive line in the second half of last week's game, which might make people think that the line isn't actually all that bad. However, the Gamecocks' offensive line was controlled and shoved around by North Carolina in Week 1. This is a deep-seated problem for South Carolina, and Mississippi State has the defense which can fully exploit it. MSU's defense doesn't get a lot of help from its offense, but in this game, where both offenses aren't very good, MSU can simply keep the score very close and cover the spread even if the Bulldogs wind up losing. Think of a 16-10 or 17-13 kind of game. MSU can be on the short end and still cover.
Why South Carolina Could Cover the Spread
The decision by Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett to rework his entire offensive scheme was a bad one. MSU doesn't have the personnel to run the reconfigured offense. That's a process which needed more time to unfold. It probably shouldn't have been done this year. Maybe next year. MSU won't score very many points at all, and that will enable South Carolina to win by 14 points.
Final Mississippi State-South Carolina Prediction & Pick
Both offenses aren't good. It's hard to trust one side when both sides are both dealing with the same basic set of problems, albeit for somewhat different reasons. Stay away from this game.
Final Mississippi State-South Carolina Prediction & Pick: South Carolina -6.5