Former Georgia standout turned SEC football analyst David Pollack is picking South Carolina to upset No. 11 Tennessee this weekend in Columbia, S.C. He broke down his thoughts on the game during an X broadcast on Wednesday and shared why he’s picking the Gamecocks.

“Where’s this game being played at? Williams-Brice Stadium,” Pollack said. “Space Odyssey. The rooster will be crowing every time, and very annoyingly. This feels like a recipe – This feels like a trench war, this feels like LaNorris Sellers – I told you before the season that South Carolina was going to get somebody. They gon get somebody. This is who they’re going to get. This is going to be a great game, but I think it’s the run game of South Carolina, it’s the breaking tackles, making extra plays.”

Pollack posted his video to X and reasserted his belief that the Gamecocks were going to get one on the Vols this week: “South Carolina finishes strong and knocks off Tennessee this weekend.”

He then posed a statement to users on X: “Tell me why I’m wrong.”

Pollack’s post had more than 30 responses in just a few hours. Here are some of them:

“Will come down to coaching. TN wins.”

“You are wrong. We got Derek Owings for a reason. This team is going to be mentally ready for this stage. Defense and Run game travels. George will toss it for 176. Vols 27-24.”

“Wait who did you have winning the Bama game?”

“Our defense.”

“Lol the lack of respect after just beating the breaks off Alabama is absolutely mind blowing.”

“Same thing every week from you lol”

“I’ve seen literally everyone pick SCar. Vols shouldn’t even show up according to the media. They’re all saying the same thing.”

“Tennessee has the best D coordinator and strength coach in the game. USC Jr. hasn’t played a team as physical as Tennessee and it’ll show. Dylan Stewart will quit at halftime.”

“Where do I start?

-Tennessee has a more talented team
-Game is at 3:30 not at night
-Will be a boat load of Vol fans there
-SC doesn’t have an offense that will score vs this defense
-GMac is going to pick apart their secondary
-4th quarter Bishop will seperate
-31-17 Vols”

.@GamecockFB finishes strong and knocks off @Vol_Football this weekend.

Tell me why I’m wrong.

— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) October 22, 2026

Now, obviously not every response disagrees with Pollack’s statement. But considering that his post was directed towards Vol fans, most of them are.

ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Vols a 59.9% chance of winning on Saturday. DraftKings, though, has South Carolina as the 2.5-point favorite. This is the classic “trap game” on the Vols’ schedule, and not-so-distant memories of the 2022 contest are ringing.

As some of the fans online pointed out, it does feel like everyone’s preaching the same “trap game” talking points from the media this week. In theory, it’s a fair point, even if it has been bashed over the head over the last few days. We’ll just have to see how things play out this weekend.

One last thing to note, though. In his prediction, Pollack talked about South Carolina upsetting somebody this season, and that he felt like Tennessee was that team. That could all be very well true this weekend, considering Tennessee now has playoff aspirations after beating Alabama last weekend. But before their bye week, South Carolina went into Gainesville and knocked off No. 16 Florida to give the Gators their second loss of the year, putting them on the brink of playoff elimination. Now, that doesn’t mean that South Carolina can’t do it twice. But it does counteract the idea of “if South Carolina is going to get one team this year, it’s going to be Tennessee.” They already got the Gators. South Carolina struggled against SEC teams early in the season, but played really well against Florida two weeks ago.

South Carolina (3-3) will host No. 11 Tennessee (6-1) in an SEC clash on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET in Williams-Brice Stadium. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football news, notes, and coverage.