Heupel warns No. 11 Tennessee about rested South Carolina, Sellers and Dylan Stewart

Josh Heupel spent his Thursday spot on the Mike Keith Show on what worries him about Saturday's trip to Columbia. His answer was South Carolina's quarterback, its edge rusher and the extra week the Gamecocks have had to get ready. Tennessee Volunteers On SI carried the full interview. Heupel described LaNorris Sellers as a passer with plenty of experience and good receivers, and also as a big, strong runner who becomes dangerous once he escapes the pocket. That means Tennessee's pass rush has to stay in its lanes and finish its tackles.

Heupel was even more direct about Gamecocks edge rusher Dylan Stewart, saying Tennessee needs to know where he is on every snap, especially on third down. "He's as good of an edge rusher as there is in this league," Heupel said. He also noted that Clayton White's defense plays a lot of match coverage and brings its safeties close to the line against the run. He said Tennessee has to play smarter overall, especially on special teams and offense, where pre-snap mistakes and communication problems keep hurting it. He said much the same earlier in the week in comments reported by On3, noting that the offense still has "another big jump" left.

The main problem is the bye week. South Carolina hasn't played since it won 38-19 at Florida on Oct. 10. Sellers threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns in that game, according to On SI. Tennessee is playing for an eighth straight week after beating Alabama 26-10, and Heupel said the staff has already cut back on some practice work based on each player's health.

What it means for Saturday

The Volunteers are 6-1. Their only loss came 20-17 to Texas, and they have won three straight over Auburn, Arkansas and Alabama. ESPN ranks their defense ninth nationally at 14.7 points allowed per game. On SI says Tennessee leads the country with 30 sacks. The Gamecocks are 3-3 and lost three straight SEC games before the win in Gainesville: 41-34 to Mississippi State, 49-18 at Alabama and 35-34 to Kentucky.

The main matchup is Tennessee's running game against South Carolina's run defense. On SI notes that the Vols are 37-2 under Heupel when they rush for 200 yards, and they average 217.1 per game. South Carolina allows only 103.7 rushing yards per game. ESPN's numbers point to a weakness elsewhere: opponents have scored on 93.8% of their red-zone trips against the Gamecocks, while Tennessee scores on 95.7% of its own.

The market has moved toward the home team. ESPN listed Tennessee as a 2.5-point favorite at the open, but the board for this game now has South Carolina favored by 2.5 at Novig, priced at -102 on both sides. Novig has South Carolina at -122 on the moneyline and Tennessee at +120. The best Tennessee moneyline among the 12 venues is Kalshi's +456, far above every other quote and the widest gap on the board. Fanatics has the best South Carolina spread price at -2 (-110). Novig's total is 50.5. Sportsbook hold ranges from 3.0% to 6.3% on the moneyline and from 3.4% to 7.0% on the spread.

Kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium is 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.