College Football Week 2 Best Bet: South Carolina +8.5 at Arkansas

Betting tool NCAA Greenline makes South Carolina closer to seven-point underdogs at Arkansas, so there's value on the Gamecocks at +8.5 (BetMGM).

PFF believes in new South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler despite the former Oklahoma star's underwhelming debut in Week 1.

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We are back this week to look at another one of the most valuable plays from PFF Greenline  in Week 2 of college football. Week 1 went as planned with our recommendation, Oregon State, covering the 2.5-point spread with relative ease. Overall, Greenline has performed well through Week 1 and currently shows a 16.57% ROI from 31 bets (betting to win $100 on favorites and betting $100 on underdogs). 

South Carolina @ Arkansas

There looked to be a chance that this line could hit 9.5 early in the week, but it settled at 8.5, which still offers some value in favor of South Carolina. 

The Gamecocks' range of performance last year was wide. Blow-out losses to Texas A&M and Clemson made them look mediocre at best. But there also were flashes of immense upside in a huge win against Florida as a three-TD underdog, in their win over Auburn, as well as in beating North Carolina in the Bowl game. South Carolina's pass defense was the standout unit last year, and although star edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare departed for the NFL draft, there was no drop-off in production in the season opener against Georgia State: with a 36.4% pressure rate, the defense once again was the star of the show.

After QB Spencer Rattler transferred from Oklahoma this offseason, brighter days ahead on offense are also expected, but not everything went as planned in the opening game for the man that started last season as one of the Heisman favorites. Teething issues on offense contributed to the unit failing to  score until the second quarter, but it is easy to forgive some early-season rust with a new offense in place. PFF’s numbers still believe in Rattler — even though his grade only hit the mid-50s in Week 1.

Arkansas represents a step up in competition.  The Hogs' pass rush could be a difficult task for the South Carolina offensive line, which struggled to keep Georgia State at bay. QB K.J. Jefferson also presents dual-threat challenges, and Arkansas posted a solid if unspectacular effort in Week 1 against 2021 playoff team Cincinnati. But the Bearcats defense did not play well after losing half of its team to the NFL draft, and South Carolina should be able to offer more resistance. 

PFF Greenline makes this line closer to seven — a very valuable number in terms of scoring and likely winning margins — and getting eight onside is worth a couple of percentage points as well. 

Best Bet: South Carolina +8.5 (-110 BetMGM)