ESPN College Gameday 2014: Week 5 Schedule, Location, Predictions and More

The ESPN College GameDay crew is heading to Steve Spurrier's neck of the woods this week, with the show set to broadcast from Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday ahead of No. 13 South Carolina's conference clash with Missouri.

GameDay revealed the news on Sunday:

The Gamecocks announced on Twitter that country singer Kenny Chesney will perform a short concert on campus and serve as GameDay's guest picker:

This game admittedly lost some luster when the Tigers fell to the Indiana Hoosiers last Saturday. What was an intriguing game between two Top 25 SEC teams became slightly less interesting. The Hoosiers exposed some of Missouri's biggest flaws and grounded the team's expectations.

Spurrier threw a subtle dig at the Tigers when talking about GameDay's impending arrival in The Palmetto State, per David Morrison of the Columbia Daily Tribune:

According to Odds Shark, the Gamecocks open as 5.5-point favorites. With the game in Williams-Brice Stadium, many will expect South Carolina to pick up its fourth win of 2014.

When: Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014

Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET (Game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET)

Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina

Watch: ESPN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN

South Carolina Player to Watch: Gerald Dixon, DE

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Nobody expected South Carolina to seamlessly replace Jadeveon Clowney on the defensive line, but the Gamecocks' inability to get after the quarterback through four games is a bit of a concerning sign. They've recorded four sacks on the year, which on average ranks 105th in the country.

"We're just sort of a little limited, I guess, as far as one of those natural rush guys that we used to have around here," Spurrier said about his front seven, per Josh Kendall of The State in Columbia. "We really don't have quite the guys we used to have around here with Jadeveon, even Chaz Sutton. Kelcy Quarles got a bunch of sacks last year."

One of the players Spurrier will hope can help stem the tide on Saturday is defensive end Gerald Dixon, who's not to be confused with his half-brother, defensive tackle Gerald Dixon Jr. Dixon is one of four Gamecocks players to record a sack in 2014. He's also recorded two tackles for loss, which ranks first on the team.

If Dixon can help put early pressure on Tigers quarterback Maty Mauk, then it will be a long day for the Tigers.

ESPN.com's Sam Khan Jr. wrote that the offensive line is a major question mark for Missouri:

"

The Tigers struggled mightily in its loss to Indiana. They committed three false start penalties, allowed two sacks and Indiana collected 11 tackles for loss, the most the Hoosiers have had in nearly two years. There were bad snaps and even worse, the Tigers lost senior left guard Anthony Gatti to a torn ACL during the game. Missouri hasn’t run the ball as well as it did a year ago (the Tigers are averaging 4.76 yards per carry, ninth in the SEC, compared to 5.66 yards per carry last season) and quarterback Maty Mauk was under pressure often against the Hoosiers. If the Tigers are going to bounce back from Saturday’s loss and start SEC play on the right foot at South Carolina, the offensive line play has to be better.

"

The Tigers might be exactly what the Gamecocks need to spark their pass rush. Playing at home against a suspect line makes for a great confluence of factors for USC.

Missouri Player to Watch: Maty Mauk, QB

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

This is admittedly an obvious choice, but the Tigers will go as far as Mauk takes them in this game. In last year's home loss to the Gamecocks, he completed 10 of 25 passes for 249 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Henry Josey and Marcus Murphy helped keep Mizzou in the game by rushing for a combined 132 yards and two touchdowns. Josey won't be there this time around, making this a little more difficult for the visitors and heaping more pressure on Mauk.

Efficiency has been the name of Mauk's game so far. His completion percentage is up a little over 10 points from last year (51.1 percent in 2013 to 61.6 percent in 2014), and he's thrown 14 touchdowns to four interceptions.

Mauk said that losing to South Carolina was more down to mistakes from Missouri rather than USC going above and beyond, per Morrison:

This is a great time for him and the rest of the Tigers to set the record straight.

Prediction

The further away we get from South Carolina's one-sided 52-28 defeat to Texas A&M, the more that result looks like a bit of an outlier. The Gamecocks were thoroughly outclassed by the Aggies, but Spurrier and his coaching staff looked to be at a major disadvantage by having no idea of the extent of Kenny Hill's abilities.

It's hard to get a proper read on Missouri because the Tigers have yet to beat a power-five opponent this year. Losing at home to an Indiana team fresh off giving up 571 yards to Bowling Green isn't a good look, either.

Expect the South Carolina offense to overwhelm the Tigers early. This game won't turn into a blowout, but it could be one of those final scores that ends up looking deceptive. The Gamecocks should be in control for much of the game.

Final Score: South Carolina 37, Missouri 28