College Football Week 1: South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Vanderbilt Commodores

The South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores will open up their Southeastern Conference schedules on Thursday, August 30, with the opening kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at Vanderbilt Stadium.

The Gamecocks opened up as eight-point road favorites in the college football betting odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), but that number has fallen to 6.5 over the past week. 

South Carolina will be led by junior quarterback Connor Shaw, who will start out the season under center for the second consecutive year. The Gamecocks were explosive at times a year ago, outscoring opponents by a 391-239 margin.

The Gamecocks ended up winning six conference games for the first time in school history, while also securing a top-10 spot in the AP poll.

Sports bettors will find that the Gamecocks have covered three of the last four meetings on this field, while the "under" is 4-0-1 in the last five contests at this venue.

Vanderbilt is focused on taking another step forward as a program under second-year head coach James Franklin, but it's important to note that he inherited a team that brought back 19 starters a year ago. 

The Commodores adjusted quickly to a new offense brought over by Franklin during his time as Maryland's offensive coordinator, finishing the season with 347 points, which was the program's best mark since 1915.

That particular unit was shutdown in last year's 21-3 loss as road underdogs of 14.5 points at William-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC, as it was held to just 77 total yards—failing to cross midfield until the last play of the game.

The early line movement in this contest is based solely on Marcus Lattimore's recovery from last year's knee surgery, as South Carolina may take a cautious approach with its star running back.

I'm still looking at a potential play on the Gamecocks, as head coach Steve Spurrier has enjoyed great success in this situation, covering the spread in Thursday season openers in three of the past four years.

From a betting perspective, the road team is 6-2-1 against the spread in the last nine meetings overall.

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