South Carolina football continues rising in ESPN FPI rankings, boasts top-10 defense

Last week, the Gamecocks were ranked 29th overall in the ESPN FPI, but the predictive model now views the South Carolina football team as the 25th-best in the nation. Carolina's solid ranking is built on the back of a really good defense.

According to the FPI's defensive efficiency metric, the Gamecocks boast the 7th-best defense in college football. Only the Alabama Crimson Tide (ranked 5th in the FPI defensive efficiency stat) is ranked higher than the Gamecocks on the remaining schedule. Joining the 'Tide are, in ranking order, are the Tennessee Volunteers, Texas Longhorns, UNLV Runnin' Rebels, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and BYU Cougars.

Because the Gamecocks did not play this weekend with their first of two bye weeks, their projection numbers did not change much. Carolina moved from a 6.4-win prediction to a 6.5-win prediction, and their 74.9% chance of meeting the 6-win (bowl-eligibility) threshold moved up a touch to 76.5%.

Next up on the schedule for Shane Beamer's team is a difficult stretch of games that includes a home contest against the Ole Miss Rebels, a road game in Tuscaloosa against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and another road trip to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Rebels (6th), Crimson Tide (2nd), and Sooners (17th) are all ranked ahead of the Gamecocks in the current FPI rankings. Carolina also plays games against the Texas A&M Aggies (18th), Missouri Tigers (14th), and rival Clemson Tigers (13th) down the stretch of the season.

With a 3-1 record and presumed wins over Wofford and Vanderbilt (though, the Commodores are better than usual), the Gamecocks will have to find at least one victory against a team ranked higher than them in the ESPN FPI in order to reach bowl eligibility. The 2023 version of the South Carolina football team went 5-7 and missed a bowl, so a return to some form of postseason play is a must for USC as the program attempts to get headed back in the right direction.