After escaping with an overtime victory last week at Missouri, South Carolina is hoping not to be on the receiving end of an upset bid this weekend. South Carolina leads Mississippi State 17-10 at halftime.
Quarterback Connor Shaw, fresh off his storied rally at Missouri last weekend, has thrown two first half touchdowns, with Shaq Roland catching each, although he has not been particularly accurate with his passes. The Gamecocks have been held to just 147 yards of offense, with the defense leading the way with a couple of forced turnovers. South Carolina failed to pick up a third-down conversion on six attempts in the first half.
Mississippi State actually scored first in this one. Dak Prescott, who has been picked off twice in the first half, rushed in from one yard out midway through the first quarter for the early lead. Prescott leads the Bulldogs with 62 rushing yards and has completed 13 of 22 passes for 86 yards.
The SEC East is a bit complicated in the division clinching scenarios, but it goes without saying South Carolina needs to keep winning games. Missouri still has the edge with just one conference loss, but South Carolina owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Tigers. It begins to get a little more complicated once other teams start to figure in to the conversation, but as long as the Gamecocks continue winning they should be in a decent spot.
