South Carolina vs Missouri Predictions: Can the Gamecocks Pull Off the Upset?

South Carolina is on the road this week in the battle of Columbia as they take on the 23rd ranked Missouri Tigers. Will the Gamecocks find a way to win or will they find themselves coming off back to back losses? The South Carolina Gamecocks on SI staff gives their thoughts on the matchup.

South Carolina won a thrilling game last year at home on a go ahead touchdown catch and run by Raheim Sanders in the waning moments of the game. This season, coming off a loss to Vanderbilt, the team heads to Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium as a big underdog. Vanderbilt was able to cause problems for South Carolina's defense and this Tigers' team is built in a way to do the same thing.

In case you missed the injury report, here's a quick look.

South Carolina:

• LaNorris Sellers, QB - Questionable
• Mazeo Bennett, WR - Questionable
• Michael Smith, TE - Doubtful
• Judge Collier, DB - Doubtful

Missouri:

• Balke Craig, K - Out
• Sam Horn QB, Out
• Logan Reichert, OL - Out

Will the Gamecocks come away with an upset win? Or will the team's playoff hopes be on life support after Saturday's game?

Alex Joyce: Missouri 35, South Carolina 17

Now that LaNorris Sellers is trending towards playing, I do feel better about the South Carolina offense as a whole. Sellers may not be 100 percent in this game, but even an 80 percent version of himself is the best guy on the roster. Mike Shula will have to come up with a better gameplan this week as he faces a defense that ranks in the top five of total defenses in the country. Defensively the Gamecocks have the same problem as the Tigers rank in the top five of total offense as well. Quarterback Beau Pribula can also pose a lot of problems for the South Carolina defense in a similar way to how Diego Pavia was able to last week. This is a game where one team is trending up (Missouri) and the other is trending down (South Carolina) and since the Gamecocks are on the road as well, give me the Tigers to cover and win this game.

Jonathan Williams: Missouri 31, South Carolina 20

The South Carolina Gamecocks just haven't been able to figure things out on offense this season and despite the fact that it looks like LaNorris Sellers is going to play this weekend, he likely didn't practice very much this week either. Bringing a struggling offense on the road against a conference opponent who seems to have things rolling is not a recipe for success in my opinion. I think the Gamecocks can keep it close but I have the Tigers pulling out the win this weekend.