Well, the mad scientist survived Week 1.
Our first trip into the laboratory had South Carolina beating Kent State comfortably. Apparently, the computer wasn’t nearly optimistic enough.
The Gamecocks didn’t just beat Kent State. They beat their ass 57–0.
South Carolina rolled up 645 yards of offense, including 278 on the ground, converted seven of eight third downs and held Kent State to just 179 total yards.
So now we get to do exactly what I said we would do when I introduced JB’s Game Predictor.
Feed the new information back into the machine and see what it tells us.
And this week we have something we didn’t have before the opener.
Actual 2026 football.
SOUTH CAROLINA VS. TOWSON
South Carolina gets Towson Saturday night at Williams-Brice, and the first thing I’m going to say is pretty simple:
Carolina should win this football game. And it shouldn’t be close.
But that’s not what the Predictor is designed to tell us.
We already know South Carolina has more talent.
What I want to know is where the matchup favors Carolina, where Towson can create problems and what kind of football game the numbers tell us we’re likely to see.
So I fired the damn thing up again.
WHAT CHANGED AFTER WEEK 1?
A lot.
Our preseason model had to rely heavily on 2025 performance, returning production, personnel changes and projections.
Now we have actual evidence.
And Carolina’s offensive performance against Kent State was better than the model expected.
LaNorris Sellers completed 19 of 23 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns.
Carolina rushed for 278 yards.
The Gamecocks finished with 645 total yards.
And maybe the number I like most: seven of eight on third down.
That’s efficiency.
The running back room showed depth. The receivers made plays. Donovan Murph immediately showed that he’s going to be a factor. And Kendal Briles spread the football around instead of making this offense dependent upon Sellers doing everything himself.
Now, I’m not ready to crown anybody after beating Kent State.
That ain’t Alabama standing across the line of scrimmage.
But I’m also not going to ignore 645 yards of offense because I expected Carolina to win.
The Predictor gets an offensive adjustment upward.
THEN I LOOKED AT TOWSON
Towson gave us a pretty useful piece of information Saturday against Navy.
They lost 42–15.
But forget the score for a minute.
Look underneath it.
Navy ran for 506 yards.
Five hundred and six.
Now, Navy’s running game is completely different from South Carolina’s. I’m not going to take 506 yards, plug it into a spreadsheet and pretend that means Carolina is going to run for 500.
That’s not how football works.
But you don’t give up 506 yards on the ground without raising a pretty damn big red flag about your ability to control the line of scrimmage.
And that’s where this matchup starts getting ugly for Towson.
RUN THE DAMN FOOTBALL
If I’m Kendal Briles, I’m not making this complicated.
Run it.
Then run it again.
South Carolina just rushed for 278 yards against Kent State, and now you’re facing a defense that just spent an afternoon getting mauled on the ground.
This is another opportunity for Carolina’s offensive line to establish itself.
I want to see Matt Fuller.
I want to see Jabree Coleman.
I want to see the rest of that running back room.
And most importantly, I don’t want LaNorris Sellers having to carry the damn football 15 times to make the running game work.
There is no reason for it.
Let the backs do the work.
Let the offensive line move people.
And let Sellers operate the offense.
TOWSON DOES HAVE SOMETHING THAT GETS MY ATTENTION
This is where the simulator keeps me from getting stupid with the prediction.
Towson quarterback Andrew Indorf can throw the football.
Against Navy, he completed 13 of 18 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns.
Towson also produced touchdown passes of 48 and 30 yards and another completion of 47 yards.
That gets my attention.
Towson couldn’t run the football worth a damn. They finished with only 39 rushing yards.
But they showed they can create explosive plays through the air.
And if you’re South Carolina, that’s probably the one thing you absolutely cannot allow Saturday night.
Don’t let an FCS team hang around because you give up three busted coverages.
Make Towson drive the field.
MAKE THEM ONE-DIMENSIONAL
This is where Carolina’s defense should take over.
Towson managed 39 rushing yards against Navy.
If South Carolina shuts down the running game the same way, everybody in Williams-Brice is going to know what Towson has to do.
Throw it.
That’s when Carolina can start bringing pressure.
That’s when the defensive backs can start sitting on routes.
That’s when the talent difference starts showing up.
Indorf showed me enough against Navy that I respect him.
But asking him to throw the football all night against an SEC defense because Towson can’t run it is a completely different proposition.
THE JB MATCHUP ADJUSTMENT
Here’s where I step away from the spreadsheet.
There are two things I’m accounting for.
First, Towson’s explosive passing game.
They’ve shown enough through the air that I’m not predicting another shutout.
Second, game script.
If South Carolina handles its business, LaNorris Sellers shouldn’t be playing four quarters Saturday night.
Quite frankly, I’d like to see Cutter Woods getting meaningful snaps sometime in the third quarter.
That matters to the prediction.
When the backups start entering the football game, the objective changes. You’re developing players. You’re running clock. You’re getting young guys repetitions.
That’s why I’m not simply taking 57 points from last week and adding more because Towson gave up 42 to Navy.
Every game has its own personality.
WHAT THE SIMULATOR SEES
The machine sees one enormous mismatch:
South Carolina’s ability to run the football against Towson’s ability to stop it.
If that matchup plays out the way the numbers suggest, everything else becomes easier.
Carolina stays ahead of the chains.
Sellers gets manageable third downs.
Play-action becomes dangerous.
Towson has to start committing people to the box.
And eventually the explosive plays become available.
On the other side, the simulator gives Towson a better chance of scoring than Kent State because of Indorf and those receivers.
But it’s difficult to build sustained offense when you can’t run the football.
That’s the problem I can’t get around.
JB’S KEYS TO THE GAME
Run the football.
Don’t get cute. Towson just surrendered 506 rushing yards. Make them prove they can stop Carolina.
Keep Sellers clean.
There is absolutely no reason for QB1 to take unnecessary punishment in this football game.
Eliminate explosive passes.
Towson showed against Navy that it can hit the deep ball. Don’t give them cheap touchdowns.
Get the young guys on the field.
If Carolina has control in the third quarter, I want Cutter Woods and a bunch of those younger players getting meaningful snaps.
Keep your foot on their throat.
This is the last tune-up before SEC play begins. Don’t screw around for three quarters and then decide to play football.
THE PREDICTION
The simulator liked South Carolina against Kent State.
After seeing what Carolina actually did Saturday and then feeding Towson’s performance against Navy into the model, it likes this matchup even more.
I think Towson hits a couple of passes.
I think they probably manufacture a scoring drive somewhere along the way.
But I don’t think they can stop South Carolina from running the football, and I don’t think they can consistently run it themselves.
Over four quarters, that’s a recipe for getting your ass kicked.
JB’S GAME PREDICTOR
SOUTH CAROLINA 52
TOWSON 10
Projected win probability: greater than 99%.
I expect Carolina to establish the run early, take control of the football game before halftime and spend a good portion of the second half getting backups valuable playing time.
The Predictor underestimated the Gamecocks last week.
Let’s see if the damn machine learned anything.
Gamecocks 52, Towson 10.
Fire up the laboratory.
