South Carolina Gamecocks edge out rival Clemson Tigers in athletic department ranking

The South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers own one of the country's top rivalries. Across all sports, Carolina-Clemson is an annual bitter matchup in which bragging rights are worth more than non-Palmetto State residents possibly could understand.

Adding another layer of hostility to the 2024 version of the rivalry, the South Carolina Gamecocks athletic department finished ranked higher in the Learfield Director's Cup standings than their Upstate neighbors. Ending up higher on the list than the rival Tigers is nice, but making the ranking that much sweeter for USC is the fact that Carolina sits exactly one spot ahead of Clemson.

The Gamecocks completed the 2023-2024 academic/athletic year ranked 30th overall in the Learfield Director's Cup standings; Clemson was 31st.

The Gamecocks were the 8th SEC team on the list, but future conference members Texas and Oklahoma (who join officially ahead of the 2024 fall sports season) also were ahead of Carolina.

The Director's Cup standings are determined by overall athletic department success (on the field/court, not financially or by any other metric) based on a point system (the closer to a championship a varsity sport finishes, the more points they earn for their school) created by USA Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

The entire top-50 can be seen below:

1. Texas Longhorns
2. Stanford Cardinal
3. Tennessee Volunteers
4. Florida Gators
5. Virginia Cavaliers
6. Texas A&M Aggies
7. North Carolina Tar Heels
8. Michigan Wolverines
9. Alabama Crimson Tide
10. UCLA Bruins
11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
12. Florida State Seminoles
13. LSU Tigers
14. Southern Cal Trojans
15. Ohio State Buckeyes
16. Georgia Bulldogs
17. Duke Blue Devils
18. Arkansas Razorbacks
19. Oklahoma State Cowboys
20. Cal Golden Bears
21. NC State Wolfpack
22. Nebraska Cornhuskers
23. Penn State Nittany Lions
24. Oklahoma Sooners
25. Wisconsin Badgers
26. Washington Huskies
27. Arizona State Sun Devils
28. Oregon Ducks
29. Harvard Crimson
30. South Carolina Gamecocks
31. Clemson Tigers
32. Kentucky Wildcats
33. Auburn Tigers
34. Princeton Tigers
35. Iowa State Hawkeyes
36. BYU Cougars
37. Illinois Fighting Illini
38. Ole Miss Rebels
39. Northwestern Wildcats
40. Minnesota Golden Gophers
41. Indiana Hoosiers
42. Michigan State Spartans
43. Baylor Bears
44. Syracuse Orange
45. Texas Tech Red Raiders
46. Denver Pioneers
47. Utah Utes
48. Arizona Wildcats
49. Louisville Cardinals
50. Virginia Tech Hokies