South Carolina football produced a surprising 2021 campaign with first-year head coach Shane Beamer guiding the team to a 7-6 overall record. That was due, in part, to a big month of November that saw the Gamecocks knock off Florida and Auburn.
South Carolina capped the season off with an exclamation point, walloping border rival North Carolina 38-21 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to land the program’s first postseason win in four years.
Coming into the Fall, no one believed the Gamecocks would achieve bowl eligibility, let alone get to seven wins. Vegas oddsmakers pegged coach Beamer’s bunch as a three-win team while most of the media envisioned South Carolina finishing in the cellar of the SEC.
Instead, they ended the year with momentum, helping change the tune of a few college football analysts along the way.
Now that the season is over, many news outlets are re-ranking all 130 Division I programs based on this year’s performance. Let’s see how the Gamecocks fared.
South Carolina football makes massive jump in the rankings
Ahead of the season, South Carolina was ranked by CBS Sports as the nation’s No. 93 team. That was the second worst rating of all SEC teams, and behind all but two foes on the Gamecocks’ schedule.
Essentially, the site predicted the team to go just 3-9 with wins over Vandy and Troy (Eastern Illinois did not factor into the rankings).
As we all know, South Carolina more than doubled that win total, besting a pair of foes that began the year ranked in the AP preseason top 15. But how did the surprising output affect the Gamecocks’ postseason ranking?
South Carolina jumped nearly 40 spots in the standings, landing at No. 55 in CBS Sports’ final poll. Interestingly, Auburn, who the Gamecocks beat in November, still finished two spots higher at No. 53. This comes despite the Tigers dropping a bowl game to Houston and ending the year with a losing record.
Still, it’s hard to be upset with the massive leap the Gamecocks took from season start to finish. It will be fun to see where South Carolina begins next year with the addition of quarterback Spencer Rattler. Some media outlets are already pegging the Gamecocks as a preseason top 25 contender.
Expectations are starting to rise in Columbia. We’ll see if South Carolina can build upon this surprising performance.