As week one continues to barrel toward Columbia, SC, the South Carolina faithful are chomping at the bit to get their hands on the, week one cupcake of an opponent, Eastern Illinois Panthers. Traditionally an opponent of this caliber would be considered a guaranteed 60 point victory for the South Carolina Gamecocks but with an entirely new coaching staff headed up by the savior Shane Beamer, nothing seems certain. But if we are being honest with ourselves. It would take some sort of crazy dark magic for South Carolina to loose to Eastern Illinois in week 1.
What we do know for sure is that South Carolina will play Eastern Illinois under the lights on September 4th, 2021. It is sure to be a raucous environment in Williams Brice Stadium as fans are anxious to see the boys take the field and hopefully get a solid win to kick off the Shane Beamer era. Here is our Eastern Illinois vs. South Carolina score prediction for week one of the 2021 college football season.
South Carolina Football Week 1 Score Prediction vs. Eastern Illinois 2021
By no means are we expecting there to be any sort of competition on the field when the Gamecocks take on Eastern Illinois on September 4th. However, we also don’t expect to get off to a crazy fast start. Expect the offense to lean heavily on the ground game for the first few offensive possessions as Marcus Scatterfield settles the offense in for the season. Our ground game should be the strength of the offense and it we are anxiously waiting to see star running back MarShawn Lloyd get his first career carries.
The defense should be solid but not air tight. I imagine Eastern Illinois will move the ball especially in the dying minutes of the game. All of this considered we predict the final score of South Carolina’s week one walk in the park vs. Eastern Illinois to be:
38-14 Gamecocks
You would have to be completely ignorant to think that Eastern Illinois has any chance of coming into Williams Brice Stadium at night and steeling a win. Even though the will have already gotten some game experience in Week 0 in their game against Indiana State, South Carolina should easily be able to handle this less talented FCS opponent.
Comment below to share your thoughts on this matchup and share your South Carolina vs. Eastern Illinois score prediction.