Stunning Upset in Columbia
It was a nightmarish Saturday for South Carolina, as the Gamecocks suffered a shocking 31-7 home loss to unranked Vanderbilt. The Commodores snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Gamecocks in emphatic fashion. It was nothing short of a slaughtering on the field at Williams-Brice Stadium. South Carolina fell in the first half, adding literal injury to insult. What started as a competitive SEC opener quickly turned into a rout, leaving the Gamecocks reeling and its fans stunned.
Freefall in the Rankings
Poll voters responded to the Gamecocks' flop with swift and severe punishment. South Carolina, which had been ranked No. 11 in last week's Associated Press Top 25, dropped completely out of the rankings on Sunday. The Gamecocks dropped from No. 10 to No. 11 despite winning their previous game, a 38-11 victory over SC State. In the newly released poll, South Carolina is unranked, effectively around 27th if you count the "also receiving votes" category and is now considered only 12th-best team in the SEC by AP voters. For context, 11 SEC teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 this week, and South Carolina isn't one of them. Even Vanderbilt, the team that thrashed the Gamecocks, catapulted to No. 20 in the AP Poll, their highest ranking since 2008.
Meanwhile, the USA Today Coaches Poll offered only a slightly kinder verdict. After being ranked No. 10 by the coaches last week, South Carolina found themselves falling to No. 24 in this week's Coaches Poll. In other words, the Gamecocks fell 14 places in the coaches' rankings. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, earned a Coaches Poll ranking of No. 23 after its statement win, the highest the Commodores have been in that poll since 2013. Below is a quick look of South Carolina's ranking fate post-upset:
- AP Poll: Dropped from No. 11 to unranked (now only “receiving votes,” just outside the Top 25)
- Coaches Poll: Dropped from No. 10 to No. 24 this week
For Gamecock Nation, seeing their team plummet from the Top 10 to off the AP map entirely in just a week is a bitter pill to swallow.
Do Voters "Hate" South Carolina?
The dramatic drop in rankings seem warranted by some fans, after all, it was an unranked team that brought down the hammer in Columbia. But some of the Gamecock faithful are grumbling that poll voters may simply "hate" the Gamecocks or at least show no respect for the team. Even last week, South Carolina fell from No. 10 to No. 11 in the AP Poll despite winning that game. That dip following a victory hinted that voters were not sold on the Gamecocks' credentials at all. Now, after one poor performance, albeit very poor, those same voters wasted no time in booting South Carolina out of the rankings altogether.
What really pours salt on the wound is how other teams have been treated in comparison. Take Notre Dame, for example. The Fighting Irish also lost this weekend, yet they remain ranked. Not only that, but Notre Dame is winless, becoming the first team since 1988 to stay in the Top 25 with an 0-2 record. In other words, voters were willing to give a blue-blood program like Notre Dame the benefit of the doubt, keeping the Irish in the poll despite two losses, while South Carolina was shown the exit after just one. Notre Dame is actually the only team with two losses still ranked this week.
Even within the SEC, one could argue there's a double standard. Tennessee, for instance, suffered an overtime loss to highly-ranked Georgia, yet voters didn't "punish" the Vols at all. Tennessee stayed put at No. 15 in the AP ranking. South Carolina, conversely, was harshly penalized for its bad loss. Yes, the Gamecocks were defeated by an unranked team. Yes, it was by a wide margin. All reasons that justify a drop, but it's the extent of the drop that feels, to some fans, like overkill. South Carolina not only fell out of the Top 25, but the Gamecocks ended up behind teams like BYU and South Florida in the "others receiving votes" list.
Proving the Pollsters Wrong
If there's any silver lining here, it's that South Carolina has ample opportunity to flip the script, but they will have to earn it on the field. Head coach Shane Beamer and his squad know that respect does not come easy. Respect is not given; it must be regained. The Gamecocks dive right back into SEC play with a crucial road matchup next Saturday against No. 23 Missouri. A strong performance, and especially a win, in Columbia, Missouri could vault South Carolina back into the Top 25 conversation and dispel some of the negativity. There is hope that QB1 LaNorris Sellers will make a quick recovery, as his health could be key to a turnaround.
Ultimately, the best way for the Gamecocks to silence the talk of voter bias is simple: start winning again and keep winning. In 2022, South Carolina closed the season with statement wins over Tennessee and Clemson, forcing pollsters to pay attention. A similar resurgence in 2025 would go a long way toward changing the narrative. As things stand, however, the message from this week's polls was loud and clear. South Carolina got knocked down, physically and statistically, and the voters showed them very little sympathy. It's now up to the Gamecocks to pick themselves up and make a statement on the field that even the most skeptical voter can't ignore. In the words of every motivated team coming off a humbling loss: prove them wrong.