Sept. 4, 2012

The University of South Carolina football team stayed steady in this week’s national polls, ranking ninth in both the Associated Press and the USA Today Coaches’ polls, it was announced today.

The Gamecocks (1-0, 1-0 SEC) are coming off a hard-fought 17-13 road opening conference win at Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks will open the home portion of their season on Saturday when they host the East Carolina Pirates (1-0) in a 12:21 p.m. contest at Williams-Brice Stadium.

The Gamecocks are actually tied with West Virginia in the AP poll with each team receiving 980 points. Alabama, Southern California, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State and Georgia are the identical top seven teams in both polls. Arkansas, South Carolina and West Virginia hold down the final three spots in the top 10 in both polls.

The Gamecocks have been ranked in the national top 25 for 33 consecutive weeks, dating back to the second week of the 2010 season, the longest stretch in school history.