South Carolina makes huge jump up ESPN’s FPI rankings after Week 1 win
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South Carolina bludgeoned Kent State on Saturday in a 57-0 thrashing in Columbia that served notice that Shane Beamer‘s team might be in the mix for some big things in 2026.
After a disappointing 2025 campaign in which the Gamecocks won just 4 games overall and 1 in the SEC, South Carolina was ready from the jump in Week 1. The Gamecocks were mighty impressive on both sides of the ball, and while they were rewarded in the win column, they were also rewarded by the ESPN FPI rankings.
South Carolina was ranked 16th in the updated FPI rankings, shooting up 7 spots from the initial rankings. While the Gamecocks were still staring up at 7 other SEC teams in the updated rankings, with 5 of those SEC teams in the top 10, South Carolina got the second-biggest boost among SEC teams in the updated FPI rankings.
Only Mississippi State moved up more spots in the rankings among SEC teams, shooting up 16 spots after its season-opening victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
Here’s where each SEC team sits in the latest FPI rankings:
- 1. Texas (+1)
- 5. Georgia (NC)
- 7. LSU (+2)
- 9. Alabama (-1)
- 10. Texas A&M (+1)
- 11. Oklahoma (+1)
- 15. Ole Miss (-1)
- 16. South Carolina (+7)
- 17. Florida (+1)
- 18. Tennessee (-2)
- 27. Auburn (-5)
- 28. Missouri (-7)
- 33. Mississippi State (+16)
- 36. Vanderbilt (-7)
- 40. Kentucky (NC)
- 60. Arkansas (-13)
South Carolina’s successful start to the 2026 season will help its cause by season’s end when it comes to its win total. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Gamecocks’ win total odds as it tries to bounce back this fall:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
