Chase Daniel gave an interesting reason for his prediction of the winner of the afternoon SEC matchup between No. 11 Tennessee and South Carolina.
Daniel, a former Missouri QB and analyst on SEC Network, thinks it’s just the right time of the year for the unranked Gamecocks.
“We’re sitting here in the meetings yesterday, we’re talking about this game, and we’re all thinking like, ‘Hey, why in the world does Vegas have South Carolina favored?’” Daniel asked on a pregame panel. “Well, boys, you know what it is, right? It’s Cocktober. It is Cocktober, and they are coming out for it all.”
Tim Tebow and the rest of the crew’s reaction was priceless.
The Gamecocks came into the home game as a 2.5-point favorite against the Volunteers. Despite the slow start to the season, head coach Shane Beamer’s group pulled off an impressive win over a ranked Florida team in Gainesville last weekend.
“We forget about Sandstorm, the home environment. They whipped Florida, all these things. [quarterback] LaNorris Sellers — to me, you look at how he played two weeks ago in Cocktober. It was good,” Daniel said.
Sellers’ confidence is rising throughout October, throwing for 505 yards and six touchdowns while completing 60.6 percent of his passes. He also claimed SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his 279 passing yards and five total touchdowns against the Gators.
Although the Gamecocks are 1-1 in the month of October, they are second in the SEC in total offense and ninth in total defense at this point of the season, maybe giving some of Daniel’s play on words some credence.
Tennessee entered the Palmetto State with some momentum of its own with a 26-10 home win over No.13 Alabama last week. The Volunteers also bring in freshman quarterback George MacIntyre, who will make his “Cocktober” road debut.
Daniel, who played 14 seasons in the NFL, kept the game plan simple for South Carolina.
“If you can figure out [defensive tackle] Xavier Gilliam up front, if you can block him and get rid of the football early enough…you can absolutely continue Cocktober, going into next weekend at Halloween,” Daniel said.
