Gamecocks Snubbed in Recent AP Poll
The South Carolina Gamecocks recently defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 44-20 after a stellar performance from many players, primarily the performance of LaNorris Sellers and Raheim “Rocket” Sanders. Sellers led the offense, throwing for 244 yards and rushing for 104, which demonstrates his dual-threat potential which has been talked about for a long time, but has been lacking in prior games during the season. Sanders rushed for 144 yards with two touchdowns, a performance that lived up to his preseason hype. After this past weekend, the Gamecocks also defeated Vanderbilt, another crushing win with more stellar performance from Sanders and Sellers. The defense held up, as per usual, showing why they are the best defense in the SEC.
Despite having arguably the most difficult season in all of college football, the Gamecocks have a 5-3 record with potential to win most, if not all of their games the remainder of the season. This article is written before their game against Vanderbilt, however they are currently favored by 3.5 points, and in my opinion it is going to be a lot bigger win. With close losses against Alabama and LSU, two very highly ranked teams, many argue that the Gamecocks are snubbed for not being named a top 25 team in the week 11 AP Poll. With a three point deficit against Alabama and a game against LSU with some of the most questionable officiating in college football, the Gamecocks were plays away from being a 7-1, top 10 team. This makes the recent ranking even more shocking, placing teams such as Louisville over Carolina, another three loss team being ranked higher than Carolina while being in an objectively easier league of the ACC, compared to the SEC.
While the Gamecocks started the season weak with a close win against Old Dominion, a game which should have been a blowout win. This was followed by a crushing win against Kentucky, a rather good team which was expected to be a much closer game. The Gamecocks also recorded big wins against Oklahoma and Akron. With upcoming games against well regarded teams such as Vanderbilt, Missouri, Clemson, and an easier game against Wofford, Carolina has a chance to prove their potential and confirm many peoples’ beliefs that they are a well-deserving top 25 team.
With a very young team in many areas, especially the redshirt freshman quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, the Gamecocks did not have much preseason hype, with many people predicting a losing schedule and that they would likely not make a playoff game. However, with a strong performance from the young players and the older players on the team stepping up and performing well, the team has had a great season which in my opinion, is easily deserving of top 25 and will, hopefully, be ranked after the Vanderbilt game, likely somewhere around the 23 spot. A ranking would be the first since 2022, after wins against Tennessee and Clemson. With a rivalry game against Clemson at the end of the season, much hype has been built up towards the game with an underperforming Clemson hosting the Gamecocks at Memorial Stadium. Little Cade Klubnik will be crushed by Big LaNorris “Goggles” Sellers, and in the case of a win against Clemson another article will come to further glaze the Gamecocks.
