Week 10 Staff Picks and Games to Watch

#1 vs #2 in Athens, Georgia on the first weekend of November. College football simply can't get better than that. Outside of the headliner, plenty of other top-10 teams are jockeying for position in the playoff race. The first playoff rankings were released this week. Fans and media will needlessly debate who is where and who got screwed, despite it not mattering one bit with five weeks of football still to be played.

South Carolina has a must-win at Vanderbilt this weekend. The Gamecocks need to make sure they are eligible for a bowl game before they enter the Orange Crush, likely three straight games in which they will be underdogs. Getting those six wins is a must and is pivotal for recruiting to show the program didn't take a step back record-wise, despite having a clear talent upgrade from last season.

Note: We lock the lines in on Sunday night so they will likely be different on the publishing date.

Former Gamecock Deshaun Fenwick is Oregon State's second-leading rusher with 356 yards and four touchdowns. Beaver coach Jonathan Smith is probably about two wins away from hearing his name mentioned for some bigger jobs. Oregon State hadn't appeared in the AP Poll prior to this week since 2013. They haven't won eight or more games in a season since 2012. On the other side, Michael Penix Jr. leads the NCAA in passing with 2,934 yards. This Friday night game is worth staying up for.

Texas Tech's offense is somewhat of an enigma. They lead the FBS with 87.4 offensive snaps per game and are second behind only TCU in the Big 12 with 475.9 total yards per game. The Red Raiders lead the Big 12 with 338 passing yards per game but rank last in the league in passing efficiency, having allowed a Power 5-high 30 sacks.

Despite the nugatory nature of the weekly College Football Playoff Poll, Sonny Dykes will be sure to remind his team that they are seventh and need to impress the committee each time out. More on the pointlessness of Playoff Poll "reveal", the committee has no governing criteria, they can change their arbitrary rankings with whatever justification they want. Doing a new poll every week is nothing more than ESPN trying to give their talking heads something to talk about. College basketball's tournament bracket reveal is nearly perfect because we don't see it every week for the last month of the season.

This game will probably be the noon kickoff most watched by Gamecock fans. It will be a good chance to measure Florida up to a team South Carolina beat two weeks earlier. I'm not sure if would be better to see the Gators next week coming off a road win or coming off three straight losses. Florida mailed it in during the back half of the 2021 season under Dan Mullen, will they do the same under Billy Napier? One reporter seems to think so. Is Texas A&M going to see a mass exodus of their top-ranked recruiting class? Jimbo is 8-1 all-time against the Gators.

GAMECOCKSCOOP’s “WHICH WAY IS UP?” GAME OF THE WEEK (Tune in if nothing else is on.)

Jeff Scott has found winning difficult to come by at USF. The AD had full confidence in Scott leading into the season and displayed that by giving Scott a 2-year contract extension. Although, such faith is probably waning with each disappointing loss.

USF was viewed as having one of the stronger transfer classes in the offseason. Unfortunately, such a sentiment has yet to manifest itself on the field. QB Gerry Bohanon, a heralded transfer from Baylor was lost for the season against Tulane, so sophomore quarterback Katravis Marsh is now running the show. Marsh actually had a solid outing against Houston and will look to build on that performance. Sophomore Brian Battie is the featured running back, while junior Xavier Weaver is the top option at receiver. Senior linebacker Dwayne Boyles is very active and leads the defense with 71 total tackles.

The well-traveled Stan Drayton was given his first head coaching opportunity by the Temple Owls this past offseason. Thus far, Drayton has collected wins over FCS member Lafayette and bottom dweller UMASS. Last week, Temple lost in OT to a struggling Navy team. Drayton needs one more win to match the 2021 total of 3.

Freshman quarterback E.J. Warner leads the offense and gives Owl fans hope for brighter days. Sophomore Edward Saydee has been the most productive running back, despite being a part-time starter. South Carolina native and Georgia Tech transfer Adonicas Sanders has been one of the top targets at receiver along with senior Jose Barbon. Temple has been surprisingly strong getting after the quarterback, collecting 29 sacks on the year. Carolina fans may recognize former Gamecock Dom Hill at cornerback.

We don’t need to tell you to watch this game or explain why you should watch it. You are going to watch it regardless, it’s the biggest game of the regular season to this point. Bama vs Tenn and Ohio State vs Michigan are the only other two games in the 2022 College Football regular season that will carry as much weight as this SEC East showdown in Athens.

Oklahoma State's fate is tied to the health of Spencer Sanders. Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is 5-1 as a starter and the Jayhawks are 0-2 since his departure. Kansas hasn’t beaten Oklahoma State since 2007 and in the last two matchups, the Jayhawks have been outscored 102-10. The health of the two starting quarterbacks will most likely determine this game.

Let's call this most the interesting game in the SEC this week. It's certainly not the best or most impactful, but this matchup could serve as a job interview for Liberty Head Coach Hugh Freeze. Has enough time transpired that an SEC program like recently vacated Auburn, would be willing to give Freeze a second chance? If he leads the Flames into Fayetteville and comes out a winner you can bet a certain SEC West athletic director will do his due diligence on Freeze. Watch for Dae Dae Hunter on the Flames' offense. He rushed for 213 yards in Liberty's 41-14 blowout of BYU, a team that scored 35 on Arkansas.

Only in the SEC could a game like this be an afterthought this week. Alabama has won 10 of the last 11 in this series, with the only loss coming in 2019 to LSU's National Championship-winning team. Nick Saban and the Tide have also won five straight in Baton Rouge. The LSU team is playing better and they finally get a marquee game at night. Expect the Bayou Bengals to come out firing but to get worn down by the superior team in the second half.

Vegas and Phil Steele, continue to love Texas. Steele has Texas ranked seventh in his weekly power rankings. He has K-State at 18. The winner of this game is going to have the inside track on a spot opposite TCU in the Big 12 title game. The Longhorns actually play TCU next week in Austin. Texas has won five in a row in this series.

By now you know that Gamecock Scoop has the best weekly coverage of South Carolina football in the business. We will have you covered all week leading up to kickoff at 7:30 in Nashville.

To beat Clemson, you have to exploit their secondary. Notre Dame ranks 68th in passing efficiency. The Irish are not going to be able to line up and run over Clemson as they did Syracuse, with 56 carries for 246 yards. Irish quarterback Drew Pyne only completed nine passes last week. Notre Dame is 28th in total defense, and Clemson is 27th, so don't expect Clemson to light up the scoreboard on the road in South Bend. This is going to be a game decided in the second half, but we don't see Notre Dame having the firepower to win this game.