Sept. 30, 2012

The University of South Carolina football team held steady in the national polls released today, ranking sixth in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls for the second straight week.

The Gamecocks (5-0, 3-0 SEC) are coming off a 38-17 SEC road win at Kentucky on Saturday night, extending their winning streak to nine straight games, tying the school record. They will host the fifth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0 SEC) in a key SEC Eastern Division showdown on Saturday, October 6, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. Game time is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN. ESPN’s GameDay crew will be in Columbia, as well as ESPNU’s Road Trip show.

The Gamecocks have been ranked among the nation’s Top-10 teams according to the Associated Press in eight-straight polls, dating back to last season. That marks a new school record, surpassing the previous mark of seven, set during the 1984 campaign.

This is the first time the Gamecocks have been ranked in the top 6 in the country in back-to-back weeks in the AP poll since the 1984 season when they had three consecutive weeks in the top 5.

Alabama continues to lead both polls, followed by Oregon. LSU and Florida State are ranked 3-4, flip-flopping the positions in the two polls, while Georgia is fifth, just ahead of the Gamecocks in both polls. West Virginia and Kansas State flip-flop the No. 7 and 8 positions in the two polls.

The Gamecocks are tied with Stanford for the fifth-longest consecutive weeks streak of being ranked in the Top-25. Only Alabama, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma have been ranked for more consecutive weeks than the Gamecocks and Cardinal.