South Carolina hosts Kentucky Saturday night in Columbia

How to watch or stream

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

TV: SEC Network

Stream: WatchESPN

Odds: South Carolina -3. O/U 54

Preview

September has been a rough month for both the Kentucky Wildcats (2-2, 0-2) and the South Carolina Gamecocks (1-3, 0-2). Both teams lost their starting quarterbacks as Jake Bentley broke his foot in South Carolina’s season-opening loss to North Carolina, and Terry Wilson tore his patella in Kentucky’s week two win over Eastern Michigan.

As such, it’s been Ryan Hilinski’s time for the Gamecocks, and Sawyer Smith’s time for the Wildcats. Hilinski looked good in South Carolina’s rout of Charleston Southern (24-30 282 yards, 2 TD) and put up a valiant effort against Alabama (36-57 324 yards, 2 TD), but last week’s struggles against Missouri (13-30, 166 yards, fumble returned for touchdown, interception returned for touchdown) showed that Hilinski is still a true freshman and will sometimes play as such. How will he bounce back against the Wildcats?

On the other side, Sawyer Smith has also had some growing pains as he adjusts to his new role. Smith had two touchdowns against Eastern Michigan as he came in in relief of Wilson, but in the games against Florida and Mississippi State, he combined for two touchdowns and four interceptions. With Benny Snell no longer at Kentucky, a bigger burden falls on the quarterback to get the offense to succeed. Can Smith turn it around against South Carolina?