South Carolina opens as betting favorite against Kentucky

Wildcat mascot. UK Football vs. Eastern Michigan at Kroger Field on Saturday, September 13, 2025 in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Crawford Ifland, Kentucky Sports Radio.

With a 2-1 record coming off a bye week, Kentucky football will go into its first road game of the season as the underdog.

According to BetMGM, South Carolina has opened as a 6.5-point favorite to beat the Wildcats next Saturday in Columbia. The over/under has been set at 47.5. At least for this writer, that’s a lower number than I would have expected a few weeks ago, but the Gamecocks have not looked up to par in their last couple of games.

An opportunity for a massive SEC victory is on the table for Mark Stoops‘ program, one that Kentucky will likely need to win to keep dreams of reaching a bowl game alive.

South Carolina, which ranked as high as 10th in the AP Poll earlier this season, has dropped two straight conference games. The Gamecocks were blown out by Vanderbilt a week ago (in part due to an injury to starting QB LaNorris Sellers) and then came up short to No. 20 Missouri on Saturday. Sellers returned to action against the Tigers and threw for over 300 yards, but the South Carolina rushing game was held to -9 yards on the ground. That’s tough to do.

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Surveying other predictors, ESPN has a few different figures we can dive into. ESPN Analytics gives South Carolina a 57.9 percent chance of beating the Wildcats. Looking at the worldwide leader’s Football Power Index (FPI), UK checks in at 43rd and South Carolina at 33rd. Elsewhere, ESPN’s SP+ rankings actually have Kentucky (38th) ahead of the Gamecocks (50th). The SP+ rankings rate the ‘Cats as having the nation’s 64th-best offense, 29th-best defense, and seventh-best special teams unit. Meanwhile, South Carolina ranks as having the 72nd-best offense, 30th-best defense, and 28th-best special teams.

Stoops’ record after a bye week hasn’t been great as Kentucky’s head coach. He’s just 6-10 (5-9 SEC) after a week off, but says he’s taking a different approach this season. Will it pay off? We’ll find out in six days. Kentucky still has to name a starting quarterback between now and Saturday. The Gamecocks have won three straight in this series after Kentucky took seven of the previous eight.

Kickoff against South Carolina is set for Sept. 27 at 7:45 p.m. ET (SEC Network) inside Williams-Brice Stadium.

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