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Books opened South Carolina vs. Arkansas at Razorbacks -8.5 and had moved quickly to -9.5.
Arkansas (28) had a rating of 79.88 ahead of Week 1 while South Carolina (57) was coming in at 72.33. This gave us a line of -9.5 and it appears as if the sharps believed Arkansas should be able to cover the opening line of 8.5.
KJ Jefferson generated four touchdowns to push Arkansas past a solid Cincinnati team that made the Playoffs last season.
“Seems to me like when the game gets a little tighter, a little closer, when he’s really got to take over the game, he’s got the knack to do it,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “Seemed to me like most every time we need him to win the game, he makes some kind of play."
The No. 19 Razorbacks kept the ball the final 5:49 after No. 23 Cincinnati had pulled within a touchdown
"Unbelievable," Pittman said of milking the final 5:49. "I'm an old offensive line coach, you know.
"But it was 5-something, 5:49, and two timeouts. We never gave it back now. That's hard. I don't care who you're playing, that's hard to do. You can go the whole season and not have one of them and we did."
As a home favorite since 2017, Arkansas is 12-4 Straight Up (75%). As a favorite they are 15-6 SU (71.4%). The price will be a little steep but doable on the moneyline.
As a home underdog since 2017, South Carolina is just 4-14 Straight Up (22.2%).
The Gamecocks had an impressive win over Georgia Southern to open their season, helped along by the special teams.
The Gamecocks returned two blocked punts for touchdowns. Mitch Jeter made two field goals of 50-plus yards and long snapper Hunter Rogers carried a fake field goal 5 yards for a first down resulting in a first-half touchdown for South Carolina.
Georgia State had 23 unanswered points in the second half.
The Gamecocks played above expectations last season, going 7-6 Straight Up, though 6-5-1 Against The Spread. The Gamecocks were favored to win OVER 7 regular season games coming into 2022.
Despite the big win, the Gamecocks offensive line did struggle to protect their new quarterback, Spencer Rattler.
South Carolina is facing a tough two-week stretch with this game in Arkansas followed by a Week 3 match against reigning champs Georgia.
Schedule
Sept 3 Georgia State W 35-14
Sept 10 at Arkansas
Sept 17 Georgia
Sept 24 Charlotte
Oct 1 South Carolina State
Oct 8 at Kentucky
Oct 15 OPEN DATE
Oct 22 Texas A&M
Oct 29 Missouri
Nov 5 at Vanderbilt
Nov 12 at Florida
Nov 19 Tennessee
Nov 26 at Clemson
- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com
