South Carolina’s 44-11 lopsided loss to Florida on Saturday afternoon sent the Gamecocks (6-2, 4-2) to its second straight drop in the polls. After falling six spots in the AP Top 25 last week, head coach Steve Spurrier’s team fell eight places to No. 17 in the poll released on Sunday morning.
South Carolina dropped eight spots in both the AP and USA Today/Coaches' polls on Sunday.
The drop causes the Gamecocks to drop out of the top 10 in the rankings, which ends a school record of 10 straight weeks as one of the best 10 teams in the country. The previous school record was seven weeks, which occurred during the 1984 season.
No. 1 Alabama held onto their top spot with a big win over Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide are the top-ranked team for a school record eighth-straight week.
The Gators held onto their No. 3 spot in the polls with the victory over South Carolina. No. 6 LSU stood firm with their win over Texas A&M, which entered as the No. 20 team in the country, on the road.
The Aggies dropped a few spots down to No. 22 with the loss. Georgia jumped ahead of South Carolina to No. 12 in the polls with their victory over Kentucky on Saturday night. Mississippi State, previously ranked No. 15 in the country, jumped 13 with its 45-3 win over out-of-conference opponent Middle Tennessee State.
Six teams from the Southeastern Conference are ranked in the latest poll released by the Associated Press. The second BCS ranking will be released later tonight. South Carolina came in seventh in the BCS standings last week.
South Carolina also fell eight spots in the USA Today/Coaches' poll to No. 16.
Spurrier will address the media this afternoon at 2 p.m. on his teleconference. The team returns to the practice field at 7 p.m. on Monday night. Practice is closed to the public. South Carolina will host Tennessee on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium.
