To say this is the most important game of South Carolina's season to-date, and maybe the most important of the Will Muschamp era would be an understatement.

The Gamecocks enter the Ole Miss game needing a win to alleviate some of the pressure that's been building around the program after getting boat-raced 100-27 over the last two weeks.

Beating an Ole Miss team isn't necessarily a walk in the Grove, and a lot of the predictive metrics have the Gamecocks coming out on the wrong side of things.

Addressing the elephant in the room first, ESPN’s FPI gives South Carolina just a 32.7 percent chance to win the game against Ole Miss.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly and his SP+ predictive metric has the Gamecocks losing by two scores, 35-26, which means the Gamecocks would struggle to stop to the Rebels’ high-flying passing attack.

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“You can affect the quarterback not only by rushing the passer but changing the look for him from something he may expect and do something different,” Will Muschamp said. “We do that a lot and need to do that in this ballgame as well. Those are all things we can do to help ourselves with mixing and man and zone and pattern match.”

Ole Miss is averaging 38 points per game and 6.8 yards per play, both third best in the SEC behind Alabama and Florida, with an offensive efficiency ranked seventh nationally.

The Gamecocks’ defense is ranked 60th in defensive efficiency and the Rebels will have the advantage there just based on the numbers.

Matt Corral is third in the SEC averaging 9.9 yards per pass attempt, which means Ole Miss’s offense is very explosive, helped tremendously by the tempo it runs with.

“Ole Miss has always played with a fast tempo. They’re calling snaps at 30 seconds within the play clock,” JJ Enagbare said. “With us, our focus is on getting lined up, getting the play and getting our feet in the ground ready for the snap.”

Also see: Big picture thoughts heading into the Ole Miss game

Because of that, a Gamecock offense that is struggling to keep pace the last two weeks. The good news is the Gamecocks have the advantage when they are on offense.

South Carolina is 53rd in offensive efficiency according to ESPN’s FPI compared to Ole Miss’s 111th-ranked defense.

The Rebels are allowing a SEC-worst 5.5 yards per rush attempt and the second-worst yards per play (7.1) this season with the Gamecocks bringing in one of the better rushing attacks in the league.

“Their SAM, number 14, is a pretty good player. They miss a lot of tackles in the secondary,” Deshaun Fenwick said. “Their guys up front get moved around a lot so hopefully we can expose them in the run game.”

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South Carolina currently sits at 2-4 and 62nd in strength of record currently and at No. 57 in ESPN’s FPI. The Gamecocks are projected to finish 3-7. They have the 33rd toughest remaining schedule.

Ole Miss, conversely, has a 55th strength of record and are 47th in the FPI. They’re projected to finish 4-6 with the 44th-hardest schedule left.