KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Fresh off a home win over Alabama, No. 11 Tennessee turned its attention Monday to a road game at South Carolina, and coach Josh Heupel made clear he is not reading much into the Gamecocks record.
The Vols (6-1, 3-1 SEC) beat the Crimson Tide 26-10 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Next up is a 3:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff on Oct. 24 in Columbia, where the Gamecocks play at Williams-Brice Stadium, and it will be on national television.
South Carolina sits at 3-3 overall and 1-3 in league play, but it is coming off an open date and its last outing was a 38-19 win at Florida. Heupel, in his sixth season, said at his weekly news conference that the Gamecocks played well in all three phases in Gainesville and that the bye gives them an extra week of preparation, so his team has to make up that ground in practice and play smart on the road.
The Gamecocks record also hides two close losses. They gave up a 16-0 lead in a 41-34 loss to Mississippi State and squandered a 17-0 edge in a 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky. Their offense leads the SEC in rushing.
Tennessee owns a 29-11-2 lead in the all-time series, but the trip to Columbia has been rough. Over the last 14 meetings each side has won seven times. The Vols last visit there, in 2022, ended in a 63-38 defeat in which quarterback Spencer Rattler threw for 438 yards and six touchdowns on 30-of-37 passing.
Columbia upsets are not new. A 3-4 South Carolina team beat a 5-2 Tennessee squad 24-21 in 2016, and a 3-3 Gamecocks team beat the Vols again two years later. South Carolina also won three straight in the series from 2010 through 2012.
This season the Gamecocks have also taken a 49-18 beating from Alabama on Sept. 26, the same Crimson Tide team Tennessee just handled by 16 points.
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