What the Massey Ratings think of South Carolina's 2025 team

South Carolina dropped its second game in a row on Saturday, a 29-20 loss on the road to Missouri. Now 2-2 overall, the Gamecocks hold a record of 0-2 in SEC play.

Following an offseason of hype, Shane Beamer’s team featured prominently in virtually every ranking system imaginable this preseason, even pushing into the top 10 in some polls. Those rankings held through uneven but somewhat lopsided wins through the season’s first two weeks. Since the two defeats, Carolina has tumbled in those same rankings.

The Massey Ratings, in conjunction with On3, rank every team in college football based on game outcomes, location, and schedules; other factors, including in-game play and weather conditions, are not included. South Carolina finds itself at No. 41 in its latest update. That is 14th in the SEC, ahead of just the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida Gators.

The loss to Missouri didn’t drop the Gamecocks at all, as they were No. 41 heading into the contest. However, it is a stark drop-off from the team’s No. 11 peak just three weeks ago.

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South Carolina’s placement in the Massey Ratings stems from slippage in the team’s metrics.

Offensively, the Gamecocks now rank as the No. 51 overall team in the country. That is 15th in the SEC, just one spot ahead of the dead-last Florida Gators.

On defense, South Carolina still holds a solid rating. Despite the less-than-stellar efforts against Missouri and Vanderbilt, the Massey Ratings’ defensive metric views USC as the No. 17 team in the land. That is ninth in the conference.

Because of the team’s talent level being higher than the current on-field results, the Gamecocks are No. 30 in the Massey Power Rankings. Carolina has the No. 17 strength of schedule up to this point in the season and the No. 10 full-season strength of schedule.

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This weekend, South Carolina will take on the Kentucky Wildcats. The 7:45 p.m. contest will be at Williams-Brice Stadium. SEC Network will broadcast the SEC battle, while the ESPN app streams the game. The Gamecocks opened as a seven-point favorite ahead of the matchup.

Kentucky ranks as the No. 42 team in the Massey Ratings. The Wildcats are 41st in power ranking and hold metric numbers of No. 52 nationally on offense and No. 29 overall on defense. Kentucky enters Saturday’s game with a 2-1 overall record and 0-1 mark in conference play. Mark Stoops is coming off a bye week.

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