Adams: Spurrier's teams play their best against Vols

Beginning with Tennessee this evening, four of South Carolina’s last five opponents are nationally ranked.

No wonder, coach Steve Spurrier sums up South Carolina’s chances for success by saying, "The other guys don’t need to play well."

UT knows all about that. It frittered away a game to the Gamecocks last season at Neyland Stadium. And just last week, it edged Alabama despite a lackluster offensive performance.

More of the same, and it could lose back-to-back games to South Carolina.

Tennessee 27, South Carolina 17: Spurrier’s teams often play their best against the Vols. Moreover, the Gamecocks showed how well they could play this season in another nationally televised night game at home — a 24-17 loss to Auburn.

But if you’re going to upset the Vols, you need to slow down their offense. And just three weeks ago, Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson completed 18 of 31 passes for 289 yards against the Gamecocks.

Florida 34, Georgia 17: Coach Mark Richt couldn’t beat the Gators with his best team. So how can you expect him to be competitive with his worst team?

The Gators have had two weeks to prepare for the game, which means more time to expand the roles of super freshmen Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.

Despite playing sparingly, Tebow leads the Gators in rushing touchdowns and is second in rushing. He also has completed 10 of 14 passes in his limited playing time.

Harvin has averaged 11.3 yards per carry on 14 runs and caught 10 passes for 163 yards.

Auburn 34, Ole Miss 13: What do Temple, North Texas, Stanford, Utah State, Arizona, Florida International and Duke have in common?

They’re the only teams that rank below Ole Miss in total offense.

How bad is Ole Miss’ offense? It only scored 14 points against Kentucky, which ranks last nationally in total defense.

Kentucky 24, Mississippi State 23: With a victory, the Wildcats would be only two victories short of being bowl eligible. That’s little consolation to the Wildcats fans who are grieving an earlier loss to the Bulldogs.

Scotty Hopson, rated as one of the top 10 prospects in the class of 2008, announced this week he will play college basketball at Mississippi State.

It’s bad enough for the Wildcats to lose a blue-chip basketball recruit to an SEC rival. It’s worse because Hopson is a high school star in Hopkinsville, Ky.

At least, they’ve got a year to change his mind.

Arkansas 48, Louisiana-Monroe 10: Much of the Razorbacks’ success can be attributed to their high-powered running game. But their schedule is also a factor.

Arkansas has yet to play winning teams on consecutive Saturdays. It played Utah State after Southern Cal and had an open date between Alabama and Auburn.

Arkansas will conclude the easiest three-game stretch in the SEC against Louisiana Monroe (1-6).

Last week, Arkansas beat Ole Miss (2-6) by 35 points. The week before, it routed Division I-AA Southeast Missouri State 63-7.

Alabama 41, Florida International 7: Louisiana-Monroe might be only the third worst non-conference opponent on today’s SEC schedule.

Florida International takes a 0-7 record to Tuscaloosa. Based on its performance against Miami, it at least has a slugger’s chance against the Tide.

Vanderbilt 20, Duke 10: A football coach doesn’t have to do much to keep his job at Duke, but Ted Roof might be pushing his luck. After a 0-7 start, maybe the Blue Devils should designate him as "interim coach."

As an interim coach in 2003, Roof led the Blue Devils to two victories in their last five games. Since then, he’s 3-26.

Top 25: Ohio State 47, Minnesota 17; Michigan 45, Northwestern 13; Southern Cal 31, Oregon State 17; Texas 34, Texas Tech 20; Notre Dame 38, Navy 20; Rutgers 38, Connecticut 17; Wisconsin 34, Illinois 10; Boston College 42, Buffalo 10; Oklahoma 27, Missouri 24; Nebraska 34, Oklahoma State 27; Georgia Tech 23, Miami 20; Texas A&M 38, Baylor 31; Wake Forest 27, North Carolina 20; Oregon 45, Portland State 10.

Record: 154-19 (.890) overall, 76-78 (.494) against the spread.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.