Skip to main content
South Carolina

Where Josh Pate's JP Poll ranks South Carolina football

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller08/13/25kevinmillerGC
Jared Brown
Jared Brown (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

On Tuesday, new On3 partner Josh Pate, on his newest episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, revealed his show’s rankings model’s view on the preseason top 25.

The JP Poll is not Pate’s personal rankings but a power ranking based on a proprietary algorithm. “My advice is also to never think this order of teams is how I would fill out a Playoff bracket…the order I’m about to put these teams in–preseason or week 14–is not the order that I would put them in.”

When Pate revealed the JP top 20, South Carolina slotted in at No. 17 overall.

Your GamecockCentral membership starts at just $1 for the first week – and we’ll throw in a complimentary year of access to The Athletic.

Here’s a look at the entire JP Poll top 20:

  1. Texas Longhorns
  2. Ohio State Buckeyes
  3. Georgia Bulldogs
  4. Penn State Nittany Lions
  5. Alabama Crimson Tide
  6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  7. Oregon Ducks
  8. Clemson Tigers
  9. Florida Gators
  10. Oklahoma Sooners
  11. Miami Hurricanes
  12. LSU Tigers
  13. Texas A&M Aggies
  14. Ole Miss Rebels
  15. Southern Cal Trojans
  16. Michigan Wolverines
  17. South Carolina Gamecocks
  18. Tennessee Volunteers
  19. Kansas State Wildcats
  20. SMU Mustangs

Though Pate sarcastically stated that the JP Poll “has never been wrong about a team,” he doesn’t love where the Gamecocks sit in the inaugural 2025 rankings. “I somewhat disagree with this,” Pate argued. “I would have South Carolina probably a little bit higher.”

Get USC Gamecocks app notifications

The national analyst has a pretty good idea why his show’s model is a little lower on USC.

“I’ve got to tell you, what the model is seeing is that wide receiver room, and it doubts it. Past Nyck Harbor, it doubts it…but some of the feedback that we’ve gotten from Columbia is that the wide receiver room is being slept on.”

He countered the poll’s reservations with his optimism surrounding the Gamecocks’ best offensive player. “They may have the best quarterback in the conference, and they may have the best quarterback in the country. In fact, their dynamic major at quarterback–LaNorris Sellers by name–is enough to almost single-handedly lift them past 17.”

Earlier this week, Pate said that he felt as if Sellers was set to “level up” this fall. If that happens, the Gamecocks can reach the high end of Pate’s model’s projections for the 2025 season. According to the model, a “best-case scenario” for USC is a 10-2 year and a trip to the College Football Playoff.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!