Week 1 Preview: Southern Mississippi @ South Carolina

South Carolina 2009 Results: 7-6

Southern Mississippi 2009 Results: 7-6

Who edges who

Quarterbacks: Southern Mississippi- Stephen Garcia will be taking the first offensive snap of the game for South Carolina. This decision was finally given to the media Wednesday morning but the competition is still very heated between Garcia and true freshman Connor Shaw. While controversy strikes the Gamecocks down a peg, Southern Mississippi has one of the better quarterbacks in the CUSA. Case Keenum is ovbiously the best, but I would put SMU's Austin Davis as the second best in the conference. Davis was injured for a good portion of the season last year but had a great TD/INT ratio of 10:2 when he started for the Eagles. His potential may not be superior to Garcia or Shaw, but Davis has the ability right now to beat out either opponent.

Running Backs: South Carolina- Sophomore Kenny Miles is back and rearing to go but he has an outstanding running mate along with him for the ride. The most intriguing recruit of the 2010 class, Marcus Lattimore, by all accounts will be electric on the field. If he can live up to the hype against the best returning defense in the Conference USA, Gamecock fans have a lot to be excited about in the very near future. Southern Mississippi brings back only one running back with in-game experience. While Kendrick Hardy looks to be a great replacement to Damion Fletcher in a few years, the experience is not quite there yet.

Wide Receivers: Wash- For South Carolina, Alshon Jeffery and Tori Gurley are growing into the most dynamic duo in the sophomore class. Last year they combined for eight touchdowns as freshmen and look to vastly improve on those numbers. While those sophomores get going, DeAndre Brown is set to dominate in his junior year. Brown returns as the leading receiver last season and is apart of my Biletnikoff award watch list.

Tight Ends: Wash- Weslye Saunders will not be playing in Thursday's game and Southern Mississippi don't have a tight end with a reception on the team. the tight end postion will not be an important factor Thursday.

Offensive Line: South Carolina- South Carolina basically win by default because the SMU Eagles only return one starter from last year. South Carolina doesn't exactly have the best offensive line in the SEC, but the 72 combined starts on the O-line pale in comparison to 26 total starts for SMU

Defensive Line: South Carolina- I was going to go with Southern Mississippi in this case as they look to have a great defensive line in 2010, but Cliff Matthews single-handedly changed my mind. His 7 sacks as a junior last year makes him one of the most feared defensive ends in the SEC. Watch out for Cardarro Law to pressure the quarterback all night.

Linebackers: Southern Mississippi- Korey Williams, Ronnie Thornton, and Martez Smith were the top tacklers in 2009 and combined for 11 sacks come back this year to be the best non-AQ linebacking corps in the country. South Carolina can't mess with that.

Secondary: South Carolina- Although interceptions were not the forte of USC's secondary, this will be their most experienced secondary in the Spurrier era.

Prediction: South Carolina by 6