For the first time since 2022, South Carolina is back in the College Football Playoff ranking. The Gamecocks (6-3, 4-3 SEC), which were left out of the selection committee’s initial 2024 rankings last week, found themselves Tuesday night at No. 21, two places higher than where the Associated Press poll slotted them.

It’s the first time since 2022 that USC has cracked the Top 25. USC in 2022 moved into the USA Today rankings after wins over Tennessee and Clemson, climbing as high as No. 19 before finishing No. 23 in the final poll of that season.

For the third game in a row, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team impressed the college football world with a beatdown of an SEC opponent. After smacking the Oklahoma Sooners by 26 points and the then-No.