Brice Stadium for the first night game of the year. The Gamecocks open as huge favorites in this game as they look to head into the bye week 3-1 on the year, while Akron tries to play spoiler to those plans.

Tune-up game: The Gamecocks committed 13 penalties in their first loss of the season last week. Two of those came at the cost of pick-sixes by USC’s defense, which would’ve won the game. Akron is a perfect opportunity for South Carolina to get right heading into its first of two bye weeks.

The SEC has a new policy enforcing mandatory “availability reports” before every conference game. But because South Carolina is playing a non-conference foe, it did not need to disclosure any injury information and, thus, does not have to divulge Sellers’ true status.