It’s the Battle of the Carolina’s as the South Carolina Gamecocks will travel to Charlotte, NC to face the North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday at 2:30 PM CST on ESPN.
This is the 58th meeting between the two squads with the Tar Heels up in the series 34-19-4. South Carolina has won the last three meetings.
South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp and North Carolina head coach Mack Brown have a history together. Muschamp was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Texas from 2008-10 under Brown.
For the Gamecocks, they return 47 letter winners this year — 20 on offense and 22 on defense and five special team players. Jake Bentley, Rico Dowdle, Bryan Edwards, Sadarius Hutcherson, Shi Smith, Donell Stanley, and Dylan Wonnum are returning starters on offense. On defense, T.J. Brunson, Sherrod Greene, Jaycee Horn, Javon Kinlaw, R.J. Roderick, Kobe Smith, and Keir Thomas.
Bentley threw for 3,171 yards and 27 touchdowns. He did throw 14 interceptions and will look to lower that number this year. Dowdle carried the ball 123 times for 654 yards and four touchdowns. On the defensive side, Brunson had 106 tackles last year and four sacks. Greene had 73 tackles and an interception.
The Tar Heels have QB Nathan Elliott back this year. He threw for 2,169 yards and 11 touchdowns. They also return RB Michael Carter who rushed for 597 yards and two touchdowns and Antonio Williams 504 yards and five touchdowns. North Carolina lost their leading WR Anthony Ratliff-Williams to the NFL (Tennessee Titans). Dazz Newsome looks to fill the void. He had 44 receptions for 506 yards and two scores.
