South Carolina suffers another drop in ESPN's FPI rankings

Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team dropped its first game of the 2025 season. Now with a 2-1 record following the Vanderbilt defeat, the Gamecocks will need to bounce back with better play to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Because of the loss on Saturday, ESPN’s updated FPI (Football Power Index) dropped Carolina significantly once again. Two weeks ago, the Gamecocks were the FPI’s No. 10 team in the entire country. Then, the analytics model shifted USC down to No. 21 after the SC State contest. Now, the FPI lists South Carolina as the nation’s No. 37 squad.

The 16-spot drop was the biggest among any top 50 program. It also included a dip in the Gamecocks’ power rating to just 7.8. Two weeks ago, South Carolina owned a 15.9 rating, and last week, that number sat at 13.1.

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South Carolina’s FPI cratering stems from a major drop in the team’s efficiency metrics.

Offensive coordinator Mike Shula’s group is the No. 114-rated unit in college football, a 13-spot drop. Defensively, the Gamecocks are No. 48 nationally after being No. 29 last week. Even special teams dipped from 2nd overall to No. 6 in the country.

All of that translates to the Gamecocks being the FPI’s No. 73 team in overall efficiency rating. That is last in the Southeastern Conference.

It doesn’t help South Carolina’s resume that the team’s week one victory over Virginia Tech is looking worse each Saturday. The Hokies dropped to 0-3 on the season with a blowout defeat to Old Dominion this weekend.

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The remainder of South Carolina’s schedule ranks as the 7th-most difficult road ahead. The Gamecocks have seven more SEC contests in a row before out-of-conference games against Coastal Carolina and Clemson.

This week, USC will match up with the FPI’s No. 12 overall team. The Missouri Tigers also rank as the country’s No. 17 offensive team this fall. Mizzou is the FPI’s No. 34 team on defense and is No. 67 nationally on special teams.

South Carolina and Missouri will kick off at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday at Faurot Field in CoMo. ESPN will broadcast the game, while the ESPN app streams the SEC showdown.

Missouri enters Saturday’s contest at 3-0 and ranked No. 23 in the AP poll. South Carolina, now 2-1, has fallen completely out of the AP top 25. The Gamecocks were included in the “also receiving votes” section of the poll. Just two weeks ago, USC was ranked in the top 10, and they were No. 11 before the Vandy loss.

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