South Carolina vs. Missouri LIVE STREAM: WATCH Missouri Try to Continue Their Meteoric Rise in the BCS
ByThe Missouri Tigers (5) look to continue their meteoric rise in the BCS standings and continue their SEC dominance as they host the South Carolina Gamecocks (21).
The Tigers are the only unbeaten SEC team not named the Crimson Tide and they lead the Gamecocks in the eastern division. Perhaps most impressive about their run is that it comes in just their second year as part of college football's most competitive conference.
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South Carolina will limp into this game, but will also have much to play for. Highly favored before the season started, the team suffered losses to Georgia in week two and last week to Tennessee. On top of their losses, star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney has been embattled with injuries and opposing offensive lines stifling him.
Clowney is the focal point of South Carolina's defense and if he cannot pressure the Tigers' quarterback or stop the run game, Missouri will have a field day on offense. Speaking of which, the Tigers rank eighth in the nation in scoring points and 15th in rushing yards.
They will certainly need the run game to be effective as senior quarterback James Franklin, who was having a spectacular season, is out with a dislocated shoulder. In his place will be freshman Maty Maulk. He played well enough last week to beat Florida, but facing an NFL-ready defensive end like Clowney may have an intimidating effect on the young QB.
"You came to perform at the college level," Mauk told the Associated Press. "It kind of is nerve-wracking, but at the same time, it's what you're here to do."
South Carolina has also done fairly well in running the ball, but the Gamecocks could also be faced with not having starting QB Connor Shaw. Without Shaw, South Carolina will certainly have to establish the run game to take pressure off the backup QB and to hold the Missouri offense on the sideline.
The Tigers are coming off wins against Florida and Georgia, both nationally ranked SEC teams and will try to make it three in a row Saturday night against Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks.
Before the start of the season, any viewer would have looked at this game and picked the Tigers to be unranked underdogs at home against a dangerous Gamecocks team. Now it is the other way around, but Spurrier said he would like nothing more than to go into the game and steal the home team's thunder.
"We're not going to get much attention this week," Spurrier told the AP. "Like I told the team, we're on TV but the nation wants to watch Missouri. They don't want to watch us now after losing a game. Maybe we can go out there and show them something, hopefully, so that's what we'll try to do."