South Carolina gets its first real measuring stick of the season on Saturday, and the setup is clean: 2-0 Gamecocks, 2-0 Mississippi State, SEC play at Williams-Brice Stadium, kickoff at 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network. South Carolina is a 4-point favorite, and this one brings a little more juice than the first two tune-up wins over Kent State and Towson.
The history between these teams has been sparse lately. This is only the second meeting in the last decade, and the home team has won both times - Mississippi State in 2017 and South Carolina in 2023. USC still owns the series overall, 10-7.
A win would also push South Carolina to 3-0 for the first time since 2012, which is a strange sentence to write for a program that has spent years trying to get past this exact kind of early-season checkpoint. Even stranger, the Gamecocks have lost in Week 3 every year under Shane Beamer. They dropped games to Georgia in 2021, 2022 and 2023, lost to LSU in 2024 after a stretch of questionable calls, and fell by four scores to Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt last season.
That trend doesn’t guarantee anything on Saturday, especially with the level of opponent involved in those previous Week 3 games. But if South Carolina wants to build real momentum, this is the sort of game that can flip the mood fast.
The quarterback matchup is the one that will grab the most attention: LaNorris Sellers against Kamario Taylor. Sellers is 6-foot-3, 238 pounds.
Taylor is 6-4, 230 pounds. Both can fire the ball and rip through a defense with rare athleticism.
Taylor is the newer name on the national radar, the player the college football crowd has suddenly latched onto after Mississippi State’s win over Minnesota, when he threw three first-half touchdowns. Sellers, meanwhile, has been steady through two games with 366 passing yards, 120 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. The problem for him is that seven passes were dropped against Towson, which makes the stat line look a little less polished than it should.
Still, Taylor has been the more eye-catching quarterback so far against better competition. If Sellers wants to remind people where he belongs in the national conversation, this is a good stage for it.
There’s also a family angle baked into this one. South Carolina offensive coordinator Kendal Briles is married into Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby’s family - Lebby married Briles’ sister, Staley, 15 years ago.
Briles said, “It’s just one of those deals where it’s hard on the family, and you know that it’s going to happen,” Briles said. “But you know we both have a job to do, so we’re gonna go do it.”
This won’t be the first time Briles and Lebby have been on opposite sidelines, but it will be the first time Lebby is doing it as a head coach. The more telling matchup might be Briles against Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett. Their history goes back to Briles’ Arkansas days, and the results have swung both ways:
2020: Arkansas 21, Mississippi State 14, victory Briles
2021: Arkansas 31, Mississippi State 28, victory Briles
2022: Mississippi State 40, Arkansas 17, victory Arnett
Saturday gives Arnett a chance to even things up, or Briles a chance to add another win to the ledger.
South Carolina’s return game is another piece worth watching, even if the numbers need some context. Vicari Swain now owns the program record for punt-return touchdowns with five after taking two to the house against Towson.
Four of those scores came against S.C. State and Towson, with the fifth coming against Virginia Tech last year.
That’s why the SEC reputation hasn’t fully matched the highlight reel. Swain was third-team All-SEC as a return specialist last season, then missed the preseason all-conference team this year.
The reason is pretty simple: against SEC teams, he averaged just over 10 yards on 11 punt returns. He was electric against lesser opponents, but only solid in conference play.
South Carolina would gladly take a few explosive returns in this one.
And then there’s the ground game, which might end up deciding everything. South Carolina enters with the SEC’s most productive rushing attack through two games at 341.5 yards per game.
Mississippi State is right behind at 298.5, good for third in the league. The team that controls the line of scrimmage should have the edge.
That matters even more for the Gamecocks after the drops last week. Matt Fuller needs to get going early to take some of the pressure off Sellers and the receiving corps.
If Fuller is rolling, it opens things up for Sellers later. On the other side, Mississippi State can use its run game to spread South Carolina out with the wide receiver splits that are a hallmark of the Lebby offense, especially with the speed the Bulldogs have at receiver.
All of that points to a game where the trenches matter, the quarterbacks matter, and the early rhythm could tell the whole story. South Carolina has the home field, the ranking in the betting market, and the chance to make a real statement.
Mississippi State has the quarterback who’s been flashing and a ground game that’s been just as productive. It feels like the kind of SEC opener that won’t wait long to reveal who’s really in control.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Could Expose The Truth About South Carolina Fast
South Carolina has opened the 2026 season with the kind of start that makes it hard not to look ahead, piling up a 102-9 combined score through its first two games. The next stop is Mississippi State, a team that just handled Minnesota in convincing fashion and looks much more capable of asking questions the Gamecocks have not yet had to answer.
For a South Carolina team that has cruised so far, this is the first real chance to see whether the early dominance is the product of a true contender or just a favorable beginning. The timing matters, too, because Alabama, Kentucky and Florida are waiting on the other side of this one before the bye week, so what happens against Mississippi State could shape the tone of the stretch run in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolina Has An Awkward Sideline Subplot Fans Will Notice
There will be a little extra family intrigue on the sideline when South Carolina meets Mississippi State, because offensive coordinator Kendal Briles is set to line up opposite his brother-in-law, Jeff Lebby, on the other side. It is the sort of coaching matchup fans do not usually get in an SEC game, and it comes with some built-in familiarity because the two have already crossed paths as opposing coordinators before.
This will be the fourth time Briles and Lebby have coached against each other, even as both have acknowledged the family connection without letting it overshadow the job at hand. For South Carolina, it adds another layer to a game that already carries the usual conference stakes, with the wrinkle that one of the more interesting chess matches may be happening before the ball is even snapped. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolina Heads Into Mississippi State With Big Availability Questions
South Carolinas first SEC availability report of the 2026 football season gave the teams trip to Mississippi State an immediate layer of uncertainty, especially along the offensive line and at quarterback. Offensive lineman Jacarrius Peak and defensive end Dylan Stewart were listed as probable, while center Carter Miller landed in the questionable category and quarterback Lucian Anderson was ruled out.
Wide receiver DJ Black and tight end Maurice Brown II were not included on the report, leaving a few more moving pieces to monitor as the Gamecocks try to sort through injuries and availability heading into conference play. The SECs weekly reporting system is designed to keep those status calls public, and South Carolina will have to continue navigating that process as it manages personnel and prepares for the Bulldogs. [Read more 🡒]