This one is hard to figure.
From an objective sense, Kentucky has played better than South Carolina thus far this season. But the same was true of South Carolina when the teams met a season ago, and it didn’t help the Gamecocks.
The Wildcats seem to be about at their best, with a suffocating defense and a running game that’s rolling. South Carolina still seems as if can get more from the passing game, even as the run game got going against Vanderbilt, and the defense has room to improve.
And then there’s the streak, a run in which USC has dropped four in a row, twice while having a team that was “better” at season’s end (2014 and 2017).