Year 3 of the Will Muschamp Era is set to begin in Columbia Saturday. The South Carolina Gamecocks take the field to begin their quest to get back in the top threshold of the SEC East Division. Led by Jake Bentley, Rico Dowdle and Deebo Samuel, the offense has plenty of noisemakers to make magic happen in 2018. Although they have a changed up defense this season, they should still be one of the top threats in the division.

The Gamecocks begin anew on Saturday as they’ll welcome the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to town. The Chanticleers, of course, are in the Sun Belt (read: Fun Belt!) Conference as of a few years ago. A season ago, under head coach Jamey Chadwell (who served as interim coach after Joe Moglia departed the program due to medical reasons) the Chanticleers went 3-9 and 2-6 against conference foes. They rounded their season out with two wins over the Idaho Vandals and Georgia Southern Eagles.

This year, they’ll have Moglia back as he was deemed able to coach. And they’re primarily led by linebacker Silas Kelly. Kelly performed well a season ago, exceedingly enough to be named an honorable mention on the 2017 All-Sun Belt team. He was named to the Sun Belt’s Preseason All-Conference team in the offseason, so big things are expected out of the sophomore. He’ll be one to watch for CCU on Saturday afternoon.

South Carolina is favored big by oddsmakers to win this game. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, considering the disparity between the two programs. This might not be as tantalizing as other games in the Noon slate, but it will still be fun to see what the Gamecock offense can do. They’ll have to get all their licks in since the rival Georgia Bulldogs loom next week. Thus, the best SC can hope for is a win and for no one to be hurt.

HOW TO WATCH SOUTH CAROLINA VS. COASTAL CAROLINA

Time: Noon ET/11 a.m. CT

TV: SEC Network

Commentators: Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Kris Budden

Radio: Gamecock Radio Affiliates

Streaming: You can find this game on WatchESPN.