South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Florida State Seminoles Preview

by Terry Smith
(Columbia, SC )

2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl

South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Florida State Seminoles

These teams both lost their conference championship game to superior teams. The Noles fell 44-33 to Virginia Tech in the ACC. The Gamecocks weren’t able to make their game with Auburn quite as close, as they were embarrassed 56-17.

South Carolina will be working hard to remove the sour taste left behind by that game and should put up a good showing. Their defense isn’t actually that bad. Auburn’s offense is just that good.

If there’s one area of concern for South Carolina it’s the pass-rush of Florida State. Florida State led the nation in sacks with 46. Defensive end Brandon Jenkins led the charge with 13.0, second only to another ACC pass-rusher, Da'Quan Bowers.

South Carolina has a solid pass-rush of their own as they led the SEC with 39 sacks. Freshman running back Marcus Lattimore could offset the pass-rush of Florida State. At least if backup quarterback E.J. Manuel is forced into duty, he will have fair warning this time around. Christian Ponder was unable to play in the ACC Championship, forcing Manuel into an emergency start. If Florida State can’t find a way to run the ball, South Carolina may end up out-sacking the Noles.

Prediction: South Carolina over Florida State.

For another opinion about the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl and others, check out SEC Bowl Previews.