South Carolina Football: How are Gamecocks not in AP Top 25?

The AP Top 25 Poll just came out and there is one glaring mistake. Where is South Carolina football?

The South Carolina Gamecocks beat the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday, 35-28. This was also one of the best games of the Labor Day Weekend. The Gamecocks beat a team many had being a real contender in the ACC, but after Saturday they are not.

Some, most notably Cole Cubelic, even said the Wolfpack were going to be in the College Football Playoff.

This win really impressed me and many around the nation. People didn’t know how the offensive line would fair against the NC State defensive line and they faired well. The offensive line only allowed two sacks. And with the clean pocket, Jake Bentley and the offense could operate. Deebo Samuel proved that he is one of the best all-purpose players in the conference, maybe even the nation.

On Saturday, Samuel had two touchdowns over 35 yards, including a game-opening 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Another trouble area for the Gamecocks last year was the pass rush. The Gamecocks had four sacks last Saturday. They had 21 all of last year. The defense was not great, but it made play after play when it needed to.

Now after you add all of this up, the Gamecocks deserve an AP Top 25 spot. The Gamecocks could have comfortably been placed at No. 24 or No. 25.

Now let’s look at three teams that got the edge over the Gamecocks.

The unranked TCU Horned Frogs jumped to No. 23 in the poll even though they played FCS foe Jackson State. They won the game, like they should, but they should still be unranked.

The unranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish came in at No. 24 in this week’s poll. They took on Temple which is at least an FBS team — good job not scheduling a cupcake — but the Owls of Temple are nowhere near the caliber of the NC State Wolfpack.

The only team out of the bottom three that should be in the top 25 is Tennessee. It had a great game against Georgia Tech on Monday. The Vols won the game, but they lost Jauan Jennings, one of their best wide receivers, for three months.

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But let’s be honest, Tennessee was outplayed for most of the game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

No matter how you want to slice it, the South Carolina Gamecocks should be in the AP Top 25.