South Carolina debuts in 2024 College Football Playoff rankings

Some would say it’s a week late but South Carolina is officially in the College Football Playoff Top 25.

The Gamecocks made their debut in the 2024 CFP rankings Tuesday checking in at No. 21 this week after being left out of last week’s inaugural rankings of the season.

South Carolina, winners of three straight, grinded out a dominant 28-7 win over Vanderbilt this past Saturday in Nashville as many national college football analysts have started to recognize them as currently playing some of the best ball in the country.

That three-game streak also features doubled-digit victories over Texas A&M and
Oklahoma.

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As one would expect, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer would rather focus on the Gamecocks’ next opponent than rankings as his team also debuted in the AP and coaches’ polls this week.

“Let’s be real, the last time we got ranked, we didn’t play worth a crap the next week, and I would hope that a lot of our guys remember that,” Beamer said. “And I’m not saying that it was because we sat around patting ourselves on the back because we were ranked but we need to focus on what is important and what is important is preparing to play a really physical and good Missouri team.”

“We talked about it this morning. We weren’t listening and being motivated by anything before and we shouldn’t be doing it now. Let’s worry about what we can control. …”

While the Gamecocks, sitting at 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC, are considered a long shot to make the 12-team field, they’re at least in the conversation.

ESPN.com’s Playoff Predictor gave South Carolina a 14 percent chance of making the playoff as of Tuesday.

The Gamecocks will have to win their remaining three games — at home against Missouri and Wofford and on the road against rival Clemson — to remain in the hunt for the program’s first ever College Football Playoff berth.

The same predictor gives Carolina a 47 percent chance to get in if the Gamecocks do win out.

South Carolina was last ranked a Top 25 team by the CFP selection committee in 2022 when the Gamecocks were No. 20 in the final rankings after beating Tennessee and Clemson to finish the year.

Since the CFP era began, Carolina has been ranked two other times — once the week before in that same 2022 season and once during Week 13 of the 2017 season when the Gamecocks were ranked No. 24.

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This is the first season that the College Football Playoff has expanded from four teams to 12.

As a reminder, the committee’s top 12 teams won’t correlate exactly with the 12-team field.

The CFP will consist of the top five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked at-large schools. The top four conference champions will receive the top four seeds and a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded by its CFP ranking. If that ranking is outside of the top 12 it will be seeded 12th as the final team in the field.

The teams seeded 5 through 12 will fight it out in the first round with the winners advancing to the quarterfinal round to face the top four seeds.

While not speaking specifically about South Carolina, ESPN’s Heather Dinich said Tuesday during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show that she wouldn’t rule out a three-loss SEC team making the playoff.

“As much as people keep throwing out the word ‘elimination games’ every week, I would really hesitate to eliminate a three-loss SEC team, and that includes if Georgia loses to Tennessee,” Dinich said. “Here’s why, because in the first 10 years of the College Football Playoff, there have been 13 three-loss teams ranked in the selection committee’s Top 10 on selection day.

“So this has happened before, and if history repeats itself, then you could potentially see a three-loss SEC team in, but they’re not all created equal. Let me make that clear. All three-loss SEC teams are not created equal,” Dinich continued. “If Ole Miss loses a third game, they’re done. LSU, they’re going to be way down at the bottom of the barrel right now. Georgia, though, has one of the toughest schedules in the country. That’s why I treat them a little differently and I think the committee could.”

South Carolina hopes to win out and put the committee in a position to have to make that type of decision.

The Gamecocks and Missouri are set for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium this Saturday with the SEC Network carrying the action.

Full CFP Top 25

1. Oregon
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. Penn State
5. Indiana
6. BYU
7. Tennessee
8. Notre Dame
9. Miami
10. Alabama
11. Ole Miss
12. Georgia
13. Boise State (G5)
14. SMU
15. Texas A&M
16. Kansas State
17. Colorado
18. Washington State
19. Louisville
20. Clemson
21. South Carolina
22. LSU
23. Missouri
24. Army
25. Tulane

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