South Carolina and Texas A&M get the SEC network started and both will be without two of the biggest names in college football as Manziel and Clowney are now in the NFL. However, what remains are two top coaches in Kevin Sumlin and Steve Spurrier and two top 10 recruiting classes. South Carolina returns more starters, but I don't believe it's enough to warrant being double digit favorites to start the year.
First of all Kevin Sumlin is a very very good offensive coach and A&M is 10-2 on the road with him at the helm. He also has blue chip guys at all of the skill positions including two at QB and two at RB. The offensive line is always a strength with this unit as they return 4 of their 5 starters after losing Jake Mathews to the NFL draft. This unit has the potential to be better. As of today I think Texas A&M's offense is better than South Carolina's who are dealing with the loss of two of their best offensive players in Ellington and Shaw. The offense has to completely change for them with Dylan Thompson who is a completely different QB. I think Thompson is capable, but again this offense will be built to run the football which should benefit us in covering the double digit spread by slowing the game down.
This spread is where it's at due to the loss of starters and how bad the defense looked last year for A&M, but their is a silver lining. A&M's defense picked it up last part of the year and they won't be dealing with the injury crisis they were in 2013. I don't think this unit is far from being a top 50 defense and I think they'll be able to handle a more traditional one dimensional attack to open the season. Spurrier and the Gamecocks were 37th in rushing play % and the same the year before. With the strength of the offensive line I see no reason why they won't try to run the ball 60% of the time to ensure victory.
So A&M gets the nod on offense, South Carolina gets the edge on defense, and I think A&M gets the nod on special teams. South Carolina has a senior punter in Hall but he averaged just 37.8 yards per punt and the South Carolina lacks any type of a return game and that's nothing new the last five years they have ranked 94th, 75th, 112th, 86th, and 114th in the nation. That will not benefit you early in the season against a good coach and a talented team with potential. A&M's kicker averaged 47.4 yards and their place kicker often forced touchbacks. I think A&M will be able to benefit from field advantage
