ShareThisCapsule previews for this week's top college football games. All times Eastern and all rankings Associated Press.THURSDAY:SOUTH CAROLINA (1-0) at VANDERBILT (1-0), 8:30 p.m., ESPN.FAVORITE: South Carolina by 11.COACHES: Steve Spurrier (22-16 in fourth year at South Carolina) and Bobby Johnson (21-50 in 7th year at Vandy).LAST WEEK: South Carolina beat N.C. State, 34-0. Vandy won at Miami of Ohio, 34-13.SERIES HISTORY: South Carolina leads, 14-3.LAST MEETING: Vanderbilt won, 17-6, last year.STAT THAT MATTERS: Since October, 2005, Commodores are 1-10 in SEC home games.GAME FACTS: In last year's win in Columbia, Commodores' defense dominated holding No. 6 Gamecocks to just 26 yards rushing (282 total yards), while delivering seven sacks and forcing four turnovers -- truly one of Spurrier's more humbling defeats ever, also Vandy's win over highest-ranked foe since 1937. Sophomore QB Tommy Beecher came off bench in opener to spark struggling offense, hitting all five of his passes for 100 yards and two TDs. He gets start with junior Tommy Beecher (shoulder) hurting. Look for RB Mike Davis (100 rushing, TD last week) to get plenty of carries. After floundering much of his VU career, senior QB Chris Nickson came up huge at Miami of Ohio with career-high 166 yards rushing, 2 TDs while also hitting WR Sean Walker with four-yard TD pass. The 21-point road win was Vandy's biggest since 1991. But home has not been kind to Commodores in SEC play, though five league losses since 2005 have been by 7 points or less. CB D.J. Moore's 2 ints. led defensive charge last year as Commodores held 'Cocks to 1-of-14 on third and fourth-down conversions.FRIDAY:NAVY (1-0) at BALL STATE (1-0), 7, ESPN.FAVORITE: Ball State by 7.COACHES: Ken Niumatalolo (first year at Navy) and Brady Hoke (23-37 in 6th year at Ball State).LAST WEEK: Navy beat Towson, 41-13. Ball State beat Northeastern, 48-14.SERIES HISTORY: Ball State leads, 2-0.LAST MEETING: Ball State won, 34-31 in overtime, last year.STAT THAT MATTERS: Since 2003, Midshipmen are 7-1 vs. Mid-American Conference teams with only loss being last year to Cardinals when team's combined for 1,124 yards in wild contest.GAME FACTS: Both teams rode huge individual performances in beating overmatched I-AA foes in respective openers. Midshipmen got school-record 348 yards rushing from senior RB Shun White, who had 3 TDs on just 19 carries. Former O-line coach under Paul Johnson, Niumatalolo is only Polynesian head coach in Div. I. He kept Johnson's triple option attack and saw it run up 558 yards rushing (third-most in Navy history). QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada missed opener with hamstring problem and is questionable here. Senior Jarod Bryant (TD pass, TD run last week) will get call if Kaheaku-Enhada can't go. Defense gave up 330 yards passing, which could be ominous sign vs. gifted Cardinals junior QB Nate Davis, who went 21-of-24 for 290 yards with 2 TDs last week. For his career, Davis has 48 TD passes vs. 14 ints. WR Dante Love had 9 grabs for 171 yards including 49-yard TD catch and also scored on 2-yard run last week. Poor run defense (106th in nation vs. run last year, 204.3 ypg) could look real bad vs. tricky Navy attack, but did tighten up in opener giving up only 93 rushing yards.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
College football capsules
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