South Carolina football ranked No. 19 by College Football Playoff, highest in program history

Emily Adams, Greenville News
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COLUMBIA — South Carolina football is ranked by the College Football Playoff this week for the second time since it was established in 2014.

The Gamecocks (8-4, 4-4 SEC) made their debut at No. 19 in the CFP Rankings following back-to-back top 10 upsets of then-No. 5 Tennessee and then-No. 8 Clemson. The only other time they were ranked by the College Football Playoff was at No. 24 in Week 11 of the 2017 season.

The Tigers fell to No. 9 in the rankings after losing 31-30 to South Carolina for the first time since 2014 last week. Tennessee is now ranked No. 7.

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South Carolina will finish the regular season ranked in all three national polls after it earned the No. 20 spot in both the USA TODAY coaches poll and The Associated Press media poll this week. The Gamecocks (8-4, 4-4 SEC) rejoined the top 25 in both polls Sunday for the first time since they were ranked No. 25 after a Week 9 win over Texas A&M.

The No. 20 ranking is the program's highest since it was ranked No. 13 in the AP poll and No. 15 in the coaches poll in Week 5 of the 2014 season. South Carolina's wins over Clemson and Tennessee were the first consecutive victories over top-10 opponents in program history.

Prior to their Week 9 ranking, the Gamecocks were last ranked in both polls at No. 24 entering Week 2 after dominating Coastal Carolina 49-15 in the 2018 season opener. However, they dropped out of the rankings the following week after losing 41-17 to Georgia and had not appeared since then. The last time South Carolina was ranked for two or more weeks in the same season was 2014.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football earns highest CFP ranking in program history