Jupiter (Fla.) Spanish River quarterback Champ Smith is one of only a handful of quarterbacks in the 2027 class with an offer offer from South Carolina and the 6-foot-1, 175-pound signal caller was in Columbia over the weekend to get an in-depth look at the program as it took down Missouri in a thriller.

South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer has his Gamecocks at 7-3 and ranked in the top 20. Both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll dropped on Sunday, USC is No. 19 in each ranking. The College Football Playoff Rankings will be updated on Tuesday, and Carolina will be in the top 20 there, too.

However, the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index) has been higher on the Gamecocks for a while. In fact, the latest FPI update slotted South Carolina just outside of College Football Playoff territory.

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Based on ESPN’s FPI rankings, the Gamecocks are the 13th-best team in college football.

The move to 13th is just a one-spot jump for South Carolina. However, with an upcoming matchup against No. 12 (Clemson) and several top teams having to play each other (Indiana vs. Ohio State, etc.), the small step closer to the top 12 represents hope. Making the College Football Playoff is still a bit of a longshot, but the odds are shortening.

The Gamecocks’ No. 13 ranking stems from a nice combination of efficiency numbers. According to ESPN, strong recent play has bumped USC to No. 46 nationally in offensive efficiency. South Carolina ranks 5th in ESPN’s defensive efficiency metric. Special teams isn’t weighted as heavily, but the Gamecocks are 70th. Because of those numbers, Carolina is 17th in the ESPN FPI overall efficiency.

With the update, the FPI gives the garnet and black a much better chance of a great season. The predictive model now projects a final record of 8.4-3.6. South Carolina has won at least nine games in a season just seven times. They’ve won at least 10 games in just four seasons; those years were 1984, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Reaching both the 9-win and 10-win thresholds are on the table.

Based on ESPN’s percentages, the Gamecocks have a 41.9% chance to win their remaining regular season games. That includes a 99% chance to knock off Wofford and then a 42% chance to beat the rival Clemson Tigers. The outlet also gives Carolina a 10.9% chance to win out AND make the College Football Playoff at 9-3. Even if they don’t make the 12-team field, USC should find themselves in a nice bowl game this winter.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Wofford football game]

Because they are an FCS team, the Wofford Terriers are unranked in the FPI. However, the Spartanburg-based squad is 5-6 on the season and 3-5 in SoCon play.

Saturday will be South Carolina’s final home contest of the season, and the Gamecocks and Terriers will kick off at 4:00 p.m. Fans not in attendance will have to stream the game on ESPN+ or SEC Network+.

Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team is 7-3 (and 5-3 in conference play). The Gamecocks have won four games in a row and have finished their SEC slate with a winning record for the first time since 2017.

Carolina’s most recent win—a wild ride that concluded with a Rocket Sanders touchdown and subsequent celebration that registered as an earthquake on seismographs—saw the Gamecocks finally defeat the Missouri Tigers after losing five straight Mayor’s Cup games in a row.

Thanks to the win streak, including three straight ranked wins, the national perception around South Carolina is improving.

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ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura released their updated bowl season projections on Sunday. Like last week, both analysts picked the Reliquest Bowl (formerly called the Outback Bowl) as the Gamecocks’ winter destination. However, the colleagues traded their predicted USC opponents. Previously, Schlabach thought the Gamecocks would play Illinois, while Bonagura foresaw a meeting with the Iowa Hawkeyes. In this week’s update, Schlabach went with Iowa, while Bonagura picked Illinois. South Carolina and Illinois have never played, but the Gamecocks have played Iowa once previously.

CBS analyst Jerry Palm, who was late to acknowledge South Carolina as a bowl team, now projects USC to play against the Louisville Cardinals in the Gator Bowl. Carolina’s most recent trip to the Gator Bowl came in a 2022 loss to Notre Dame. The Gamecocks also fell three times in the Gator Bowl in the 1980s. Despite being old Metro Conference rivals in basketball, South Carolina and Louisville have never met on the gridiron.

Steve Lassan of The Athletic projected the Gamecocks to the Reliquest Bowl. The Tampa-based postseason contest has hosted USC five times previously. In Lassan’s view, the 2024 South Carolina football squad will match up with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl. Though Carolina is 4-1 in previous Reliaquest/Outback Bowls, the program’s one loss in the game came to Iowa. The loss following the 2008 season was the only time the Gamecocks and Hawkeyes have played.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network also thinks South Carolina will end up in Tampa playing the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Wofford football game]

Now with seven wins and likely at least one more remaining, South Carolina football fans expect their favorite team to play in a nice bowl. In fact, if a lot of things break the Gamecocks’ way, the College Football Playoff could come calling. The chances are small, but following the team’s recent strong play, those chances are improving.

Next up for South Carolina is an in-state battle against the FCS Wofford Terriers. The Terriers will make the drive down I-26 to Columbia for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff. ESPN+ and SEC Network+ will stream the game as it is not available on traditional television.