College Football Insider picks Vanderbilt Commodores over South Carolina

The Vanderbilt Commodores have three stops left on their 2024 road to destruction through the Southeastern Conference, with the first of those three stops being at home to the South Carolina Gamecocks.

In the Commodores' best start to a season since 1982, the team performed exceptionally well on both sides of the ball, with Diego Pavia leading the offense and the defense working hard in the trenches, forcing a plethora of turnovers.

However, the next three games on the schedule could prove to be one of the toughest tests Vandy has faced so far this year, but they have proven time and time again that when the going gets tough, the going gets tough.

In a recent article for CBS Sports, Brandon Marcello made his picks for some of the biggest games taking place within the SEC this weekend, including the Gamecocks at Vanderbilt.

Both teams have shown a penchant for winning and overcoming adversity, with South Carolina upsetting the Texas A&M Aggies just last weekend and Marcello's choice for who will win this Saturday's game falling on the Gamecocks, but with a caveat.

“The decisive factor will be ball losses,” writes Marcello. “Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who totaled 350 yards last week, committed six turnovers in three losses and just three in five wins. “If Vanderbilt forces two or more turnovers, the Commodores win.” This is a difficult decision.”

While it's certainly difficult to pick a winner, the Commodores' defense has forced eight interceptions so far this year, an average of 0.89 per game, while also recovering three of four forced fumbles.

Another question from Marcello for this game was, “Can Vanderbilt slow down South Carolina’s strong ground game?”

South Carolina has averaged 176.5 yards rushing this year, including three separate runs of 200 or more yards in a single game.

While that is very impressive, the Vanderbilt defense's calling card is its ability to stifle the run game, as it has allowed just 111.8 yards per game on the ground this year while only allowing 200 or more yards in a single game once allowed and held five of their nine opponents to less than 100 yards.

Saturday's game certainly looks like one of the better games of the weekend on paper, and we'll just have to wait two more days to see how it all plays out.