South Carolina football's improving College Football Playoff chances following a wild week

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South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer (Photo: Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral.com)

South Carolina football fans had a great Saturday. Not only did their Gamecocks knock off the Wofford Terriers 56-12 (complete with a point spread cover with nine seconds remaining), but much of the “unlikely chaos” needed for USC to have any semblance of a College Football Playoff chance happened. It was a wild weekend of college football, and South Carolina was one of Saturday’s biggest winners.

The No. 18 Gamecocks won handily. No. 5 Indiana, No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 14 BYU, No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 16 Colorado, and No. 19 Army all lost on Saturday. In fact, Indiana and Alabama got smacked around in their games. Before Saturday, the chances of seeing garnet and black in the CFP were meager. Following what transpired this weekend, that could be changing

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The insanity across the sport has South Carolina as close to the College Football Playoff as they have been this year. When the updated CFP rankings come out on Tuesday, the Gamecocks should be in the top 15. With a top-15 matchup with Clemson coming this week, upward mobility is possible. Plus, over the next two weeks of ball, several teams ahead of Carolina have to play each other. That means, mathematically speaking, that some of them must lose.

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The 12-team CFP field will include at least five conference champions. Notre Dame likely will get in. The 2nd-place team in the BIG Ten seems likely to make it, too. A two-loss Tennessee Volunteers squad that doesn’t have to play in the SEC Championship Game probably cracks the field, too. That leaves four more spots. It seems most likely that the BIG Ten and SEC each will get two additional bids (unless SMU beats Miami in an absolute classic in the ACC Championship Game after both teams win next week). If the SEC gets those four total bids, that means at least one 3-loss group will make the field.

Could it be Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team?

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