COLUMBIA — A season ago, a visit from the Vanderbilt Commodores turned out to be a vicious nightmare for South Carolina that began a frustrating tumble from glory.

The Gamecocks sat at No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and boasted a 6-1 record when Vanderbilt marched into Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 20, but managed only 195 of offense, with quarterback Blake Mitchell being sacked seven times by the Commodores’ swarming defense in a 17-6 loss.

On top of the upset going down as the first time Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier had lost a game to Vanderbilt in 15 tries, his South Carolina team couldn’t bounce back the rest of the season, dropping its next four games on the way to a 6-6 finish without a bowl game.

Don’t think the 17 returning starters for the Gamecocks have forgotten about where that colossal slide began, as they’ll head into Nashville, Tenn. with revenge on their minds.

The analysis

USC’s offense vs. Vandy’s defense

Herein lies the matchup that broke the Gamecocks’ backs a season ago in this game.

Last year, the Commodores finished 16th in the nation in total defense, and 18th against the pass. And although only six starters return from that unit, four of them happen to be in the secondary that intercepted three passes against the Gamecocks last year.

Vanderbilt returns only two starters in its front seven, defensive end Steven Stone and linebacker Patrick Benoist.

The Commodores feel good about Stone’s counterpart on the other side of the line in Broderick Stewart, who finished with six sacks last season as a reserve, but there are plenty of questions on the interior that the Gamecocks will look to expose.

Look for South Carolina to use a heavy dose of senior running back Mike Davis, who will be running behind four returning starters along the offensive line.

Kenny McKinley is dangerous at wide out after hauling in an SEC-high 77 receptions last year. Hopefully whoever is throwing the ball to him, be it Chris Smelley or Tommy Beecher, will be improved after a spring that was less than impressive.

USC’s defense vs. Vandy’s offense

Vanderbilt’s offense didn’t light up many scoreboards last season, finishing the season ranked 93rd in the country in scoring, and 103rd in total offense with just 326.6 yards per game.

All things considered, the fact the Commodores are returning just three starters from that unit could be a blessing.

However, not among those counted as a returning starter is quarterback Chris Nickson, who had troubles with the injury bug last year. The senior signal-caller pumped out 2,779 yards of total offense in 2006, ranking as the fourth best output in school history, and the Commodores need him to fall back into that form if they want to move the ball this year, as there isn’t much returning talent at running back.

That fact bodes well for the Gamecocks, who saw opposing offenses run through them like a hot knife through butter on a weekly basis, finishing 110th in the nation in rushing defense.

South Carolina will have nine starters back of defense, not including star linebacker Jasper Brinkely, which should help slow the Commodores to a crawl.

Special teams

The Gamecocks feel good about returning placekicker Ryan Succop, who didn’t miss a field goal inside the 40-yard line last year. He finished the season 13-of-17 on his kicks with a long of 49 while also handling the punting duties, which he will likely turn over to someone else this season.

Despite closing in on the school’s all-time scoring record, Vanderbilt kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt has only connected on 61.1 of his career attempts. D.J. Moore is among the SEC’s top kickoff returners.

Overview

Simply put, Vanderbilt may very well be the weakest link in the SEC this season with so little talent returning. Unless Nickson returns to the lineup in prime form, it could be a long season in Nashville.

The Gamecocks aren’t exactly the odds-on favorite to take home a conference title, but they remain a dangerous team that will cause headaches on a weekly basis, and will likely have a big impact on the SEC race.

Even though there are still some quarterback questions heading into the season, South Carolina returns plenty of talent to extract some revenge on Vanderbilt.

Prediction

USC 28, Vanderbilt 10

Tomorrow: A breakdown of the Sept. 13 game against Georgia.