Georgia looks to continue SEC dominance on TSN

South Carolina looks to move to 3-0 for the first time over a decade, but faces a tough test in No. 16 LSU. Plus, it's the latest edition of the Backyard Brawl as West Virginia visits Pittsburgh and Kentucky tries to bounce back from a humbling defeat by hosting No.1 Georgia.

Here's a look at some of the NCAA action on tap this weekend on TSN.

No. 16 LSU (1-1) vs. South Carolina (2-0), Saturday at Noon et/9am pt on TSN2

Shane Beamer's Gamecocks are on the precipice of a rarity for South Carolina football, but there is still work to be done to get there. After a tense Week 1 victory over Old Dominion, South Carolina bounced back last weekend with a rout of Kentucky in Lexington by the tune of 31-6 to heap pressure on Mark Stoops. This Saturday, the Gamecocks look to move to 3-0 for the first time since 2012 when they host Brian Kelly's No. 16 LSU Tigers.

For his part, Beamer says he wants his team to keep doing what they're doing and not buy into the hype, but acknowledges it's hard to ignore the excitement around the team.

"We talked this morning, one of the keys for Saturday is we have to learn how to deal with success the right way," Beamer said this week. "And handle some of the, I don't want to say distractions, but there is a lot going on this week that we didn't have to deal with last week. Or that we didn't get to deal with last week. I think it's a positive, I think we need to get used to it. but one we need to make sure we are handling distractions the right way and we also have to handle success the right way. And we have to realize right now that the bandwagon is getting full."

What stood out in the victory over the Wildcats last week was the play of the defence. The Gamecocks limited Kentucky to just 183 total yards, including 44 passing yards. Wildcats starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff struggled mightily, throwing for only 30 yards on 3-for-10 passing with two picks. The Tigers' Garrett Nussmeier will present a much more difficult opponent under centre this week with the LSU pivot showing deadly efficiency through two weeks. As impressive as he's been, Beamer believes the Tigers, offensive line deserves a lot of the credit.

“There’s a reason why they’re going to be high draft picks,” Beamer said. "But like I told our players, that’s life in the SEC.”

While LaNorris Sellers' transition into the Gamecocks starter has been a bumpy one through two weeks, Kelly says his team must respect his arm strength.

"He has a cannon for an arm and can throw it 65 or 70 yards,” Kelly said of Sellers. “He just reminds you of that physical presence, but he is a new starter."

After opening the season with a narrow loss to USC, the Tigers picked up their first victory of the season last weekend with a 44-21 win over Nicholls. What will be different for LSU in taking on the Gamecocks will be more zone coverage rather than the man coverage faced against Nicholls and the Trojans. Kelly will need a banged-up backfield to step up even without John Emery Jr., who is out for the season.

"With favourable box looks, we have to be as good running the ball, as well," Kelly said. "Balance, to me, is being able to throw it as well as you run it."

Saturday's game will be the 23rd meeting between the two programs with the Tigers having dominated the series. LSU is 19-1-2 against the Gamecocks, having won the last seven straight matchups. South Carolina's most recent victory against the Tigers came in 1994.

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West Virginia (1-1) vs. Pittsburgh (2-0), Saturday at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt on TSN+

It's once again time for the Backyard Brawl. A raucous, sold-out crowd is expected on Saturday as Pat Narduzzi's Pittsburgh Panthers look to move to 3-0 against their old rivals, the West Virginia Mountaineers. Saturday's game will be the 107th meeting of college football's 14th-oldest rivalry.

As of right now, it could be the last edition of the Backyard Brawl for the foreseeable future. The 2024 meeting will mark the third straight season in which the two teams played, following an 11-year break largely due to the collapse of the Big East. Currently, there are no future games on the schedule, but Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown hopes that will change.

"We got to get our schedule fixed and we're in the process of kind of doing that," Brown said during his Monday availability. "I think it's a series that needs to be played. I think Pitt wants to play it. We want to play it.... I know it makes sense for us to play the game."

Pitt opened their season with a comfortable win over Kent State before an excruciating nail-biter against Cincinnati. After trailing 27-6 with just under five minutes left to play in the third, Pitt scored 22 unanswered points, capped off by Ben Sauls' 35-yard field-goal with 17 seconds remaining, to pull off a 28-27 victory over the new Big 12 team. A win on Saturday would match the Panthers' win total for all of 2023.

The story of the early season for Pitt has been the play of junior running back Desmond Reid. Reid has averaged 244.0 all-purpose yards through his first two games. Reid is in his first season at Pitt after transferring from Western Carolina.

"You talk about a guy who’s unselfish, he never asks for the ball," first-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell said. "He never complains. He’s always in here doing extra [work]. He’s just my type of guy. I want guys who love football as much as me. I want guys that want to be in the NFL and want to be pros and he just brings that type of mentality. That kind of chip on your shoulder, prove yourself and you’re not scared to fail. That’s what I like about Dez.”

After losing their Week 1 matchup against No. 8 Penn State, the Mountaineers picked up their first win of the season last Saturday with a 49-14 rout of Albany. West Virginia had the ball nine times, with seven of those drives ending in points scored. Brown was pleased with his team's efficiency on offence and wants that to continue.

"We've got an opportunity to be a really efficient offence," Brown said. "We've got playmakers at running back, tight end and receiver. And our quarterback is a proven player, and that was much more in line with what our expectations going into the year were than what we put on film versus Penn State. Now, we've obviously got a much higher-level opponent in Pitt this week, so now the goal is consistency, and we've got to take care of the ball. We still fumbled the ball last week, which we cannot do to have the success that we need to."

Pitt holds an all-time edge of 62-43-1 in the Backyard Brawl, but WVU is the most recent victor with a 17-6 win at Mountaineer Field last fall. With no further meetings currently on the schedule, Saturday's game could serve as a de facto rubber match for the most recent stretch of games following the 11-year break. Pitt defeated WVU in a wild 38-31 matchup in 2022.

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No. 1 Georgia (2-0) vs. Kentucky (1-1), Saturday at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt on TSN2

Things are not going well for Mark Stoops at the moment and they could get much, much worse on Saturday night.

The Kentucky Wildcats were absolutely run over by South Carolina at home last week, to the embarrassing tune of 31-6. The team's chance to bounce back once again comes in Lexington, but their visitors will be the No. 1 team in the nation in Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs. As well as the Gamecocks played last weekend, taking on a team with the kind of quality and depth that the Bulldogs have on offer is a different kettle of fish entirely.

What let down UK the most last week was the team's offensive line. The Gamecocks' pass rush met little resistance as they made the afternoon hell for quarterbacks Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt, who combined for a paltry 44 passing yards. While Stoops wouldn't question his team's effort level in the loss to South Carolina, he did bemoan the number of mistakes they made.

“It comes down to discipline and execution,” Stoops said in a Monday availability. “In that game, I think South Carolina had six explosive plays for 152 yards. Of the explosives, three of them were complete technique issues, just playing football. Just a lot that we can improve on. Offensively, clearly, we got out of rhythm. We didn’t play very good. You can’t have penalty after penalty after penalty. That part of it, the execution and the undisciplined play was embarrassing. The penalties and things of that nature, you just can’t do it."

Even cleaning that up might not be enough against the juggernaut Bulldogs. The Dawgs enter the game on a 27-game SEC winning streak and started their season with two lopsided wins, including a demolition of perennial ACC contenders Clemson in a 34-3 Week 1 victory. Still, Stoops says he's more concerned with his team than his opposition.

“We have to improve, bottom line," Stoops said. "We’ve got to get better. We’ve got an opportunity to do that this week against one of the very best teams in the country. I do expect our team to respond.”

For Smart, Saturday's game is a reunion with Vandagriff. The 22-year-old Bogart, GA spent three seasons with the Dawgs, winning National Championships in 2021 and 2022. With Carson Beck electing to stay in Athens for another season, Vanagriff decided to enter the transfer portal and join the Wildcats.

“I didn’t want it to be difficult for him," Smart said of Vandagriff's decision to leave. "When he sat in front of me in my office, I told him I loved him. I told him he had done a tremendous job. He told me he appreciated everything we had done for him… but he needed to try and go play. That was just a mutual respect we had for each other."

The Dawgs head into Saturday's game on a 14-game win streak over the Wildcats, dating back to 2010. Kentucky's last victory in the series came back in 2009 at Athens, pulling out a 34-27 victory. Former Calgary Stampeders running back Derrick Locke had 160 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in the victory. All-time, Georgia leads the series that dates back to 1939 with 63 wins, 12 losses and two ties.

Click here for TSN's full slate of Week 3 NCAA games this weekend.