Marcus Lattimore Injury: Predicting South Carolina's Remaining Games

When it rains, it pours.

After dismissing starting quarterback Steven Garcia earlier this week, South Carolina lost another offensive playmaker in a close win against Mississippi State when Marcus Lattimore went down with an injury late in the game.

Coming in to the game, Lattimore was sixth nationally in yards per game (129) and first in the SEC with an average of 5.3 ypc.

Losing Lattimore in the same week as tossing Garcia off the team could have far reaching consequences in the race for the SEC East title.  Let's look over the rest of the Gamecock's schedule and parse out just how things go from here on out.

Oct. 29th at Tennessee

The Vols are suffering through their own injury crisis as starting quarterback Tyler Bray is out with a fractured thumb suffered against Georgia last week.

That is especially bad news for an offense that has relied almost exclusively on the pass (327 ypg, 11th nationally) while ignoring the run (84 ypg, 114th nationally).

Tennessee has already lost to fellow SEC East teams Georgia and Florida, and a game against LSU this weekend doesn't look to end much better.

South Carolina should be able to depend on its defense (top 10 in total and pass eff. defense) to slow the Vols enough to get the win.  Tennessee will have little to no offensive identity without Bray leading the charge—and that assumes Matt Simms survives back-to-back games against LSU and Alabama.

Prediction: South Carolina wins and moves to 7-1 (5-1).

Nov. 5th at Arkansas

If there is any game on the remaining schedule that South Carolina will miss Lattimore, it is the first weekend of November against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks will score and score and score, and without Lattimore to give South Carolina a boost on offense, the odds of the team keeping up with Arkansas are slim to none.  Arkansas's one weakness on defense is against the run—just 93rd nationally giving up 188 yards per gameand it stands to reason that without Lattimore it will be hard for South Carolina to take advantage of that.

Prediction: South Carolina loses and moves to 7-2 (5-2).

Nov. 12th vs. Florida

If there is one game on which South Carolina's season rests, it is the home game against Florida.

After a two-game gauntlet of Alabama and LSU, Florida enters a stretch of games against fellow SEC teams which are all winnable: at Auburn, vs. Georgia and vs. Vanderbilt before visiting South Carolina.  If the Gators win out and South Carolina drops a game against Arkansas, the two teams could be tied with Georgia and a win against UF would give South Carolina the tiebreaker against its SEC East rivals.

Thankfully for South Carolina, this game is very winnable.  Florida has had a number of offensive problems, and while starter John Brantley should be back by then, the Gamecock's stingy pass defense should neutralize him.

This game will come down to a defensive battle between the two SEC East rivals.  While South Carolina still has a dangerous offensive weapon in Alshon Jeffery, it is no guarantee that Conner Shaw will be able to get him the ball with enough regularity to make up for the lack of Lattimore in the running game.

Prediction: South Carolina loses and moves to 7-3 (5-3)

Nov. 19th vs. the Citidel

When The Citadel comes to town, South Carolina rolls.

The Citadel is a bad FCS team with a terrible offense (94th total, 100th scoring).  If this game is even close, then South Carolina has more problems than just Lattimore's injury.

Prediction: South Carolina rolls and moves to 8-3 (5-3).

Nov 26th vs. Clemson

The good news: this game is an out of conference contest so if South Carolina can survive against Florida and Tennessee, it will be in the driver's seat in the SEC East.

The bad news: this game has all the makings of a shootout that South Carolina just isn't equipped to win.

Clemson has the 19th-ranked total offense in the nation racking up 472 yards per game, and averging 35 points per game (31st nationally).  The odds of South Carolina scoring enough against Clemson's average defense to keep up with the powerful Tiger offense are low.

Prediction: South Carolina loses a shootout and moves to 8-4 (5-3).

Final Prediction

South Carolina was fortunate to play most of its toughest SEC games early in the season (Georgia, Auburn) while missing the two heavy hitters from the SEC West (LSU, Alabama).

The schedule still sets up nicely for South Carolina to make it to the SEC championship game as long as the Gamecocks can take care of business against Florida and Tennessee, but without Lattimore in the backfield, it looks like contests against Arkansas and Clemson are just too much for the Gamecocks to overcome.

Realistic prediction: 8-4 (5-3)

Optimistic prediction: 9-3 (6-2) with a trip to the SEC Championship game.

After losing two of their best offensive playmakers in one week, South Carolina fans would be ecstatic to see a trip to the Georgia dome for the second straight year.

Unfortunately, so would the winner of the Alabama/LSU game.