South Carolina not ranked, gets votes in first AP Football Top 25

The South Carolina football team isn’t in the AP preseason Top-25, but it is getting some votes.

USC’s total of 15 votes ranks 10th in the teams receiving votes category. The Gamecocks also picked up some votes in the preseason coaches poll.

The Gamecocks will face the top three teams in the preseason poll in Clemson, Georgia and Alabama. The AP’s Ralph Russo wrote: “Texas A&M and South Carolina are the first teams to have preseason Nos. 1-3 on their schedules since Missouri in 1975. Other teams to face preseason Nos. 1-3. Northwestern in 1968. Minnesota in 1972. Only Missouri won any of the games.”

Beyond that top three, USC also faces No. 8 Florida and No. 12 Texas A&M. Missouri, which is facing NCAA sanctions, was one spot out of the poll.

The last time South Carolina opened the season ranked was 2014, when it was No. 9. Since then, USC has only once appeared in the AP poll, Week 2 of last season, but made several appearances in the College Football Playoff rankings. They opened last season one spot out of the Top 25.

Full AP preseason poll:

1 Clemson

2 Alabama

3 Georgia

4 Oklahoma

5 Ohio St

6 LSU

7 Michigan

8 Florida

9 Notre Dame

10 Texas

11 Oregon

12 Texas A&M

13 Washington

14 Utah

15 Penn St

16 Auburn

17 UCF

18 Michigan St

19 Wisconsin

20 Iowa

21 Iowa St

22 Syracuse

23 Wash St

24 Nebraska

25 Stanford

Others receiving votes:

Missouri 117, Army 94, Mississippi State 87, Miami (FL) 70, Northwestern 63, TCU 57, Virginia 44, Boise State 38, Cincinnati 16, South Carolina 15, Virginia Tech 12, Fresno State 8, Utah State 8, Minnesota 7, Memphis 6, Appalachian State 5, West Virginia 3, Oklahoma State 3, Arizona State 3, Arizona 1, USC 1

This story was originally published August 19, 2019 at 11:58 AM.