National projections say bowl game, not CFP, for South Carolina

The latest national playoff projections are out, and South Carolina is out on the outside looking in despite its strong finish to the regular season.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich has the Gamecocks projected at No. 14 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings, which will be released Tuesday evening. Dinich has Alabama, which defeated South Carolina, as the final team getting in the playoffs. She also has Ole Miss at No. 13.

ESPN’s latest playoff predictor gives the Gamecocks a 21% chance at making the 12-team playoff.

The official playoff bracket will be released at noon Sunday, Dec. 8 on ESPN.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm also has the Gamecocks outside of the 12-team playoff, giving the final spot to Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Palm only has three Southeastern Conference teams in — Georgia, Texas and Tennessee.

The Athletic’s Stuart Mandel has the Gamecocks as one of the first five out. He has Miami getting the 12th spot with the Gamecocks, Alabama and Ole Miss all out.

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said on the “Matt Barrie Show” on Sunday that he believes the SEC will have three playoff teams and that the Gamecocks won’t be one of them, despite calling them one of the most consistent teams in the country.

“You start thinking about South Carolina’s loss, yeah to Alabama. Fluke or not, they still lost,” Finebaum said. “What gets me about South Carolina is the beatdown that Ole Miss put on them. I know it is weeks and weeks ago, but it is hard to square.

“... South Carolina is one of the most consistent teams in the country right now. Is that enough to get you over that they got destroyed by one of the teams (Ole Miss) that is trying to get in? I don’t have a lot of faith because committees tend to look at data points and easy things they can sing Kumbaya about.”

Still, there are some that believe South Carolina should be in the playoffs.

Chase Daniel, the former Missouri and NFL quarterback who now works for The Athletic and FS1, CBS Sports’ Danny Kanell and Sirius XM’s Barrett Sallee all posted a case for the Gamecocks on their X (formerly Twitter) pages.

“South Carolina deserves to be in the College Football Playoff in the current landscape,” Sallee wrote. “Dominoes could fall, but there’s no way you can keep the Gamecocks out as of this second. The committee has to take into account the injury to LaNorris Sellers in the loss to LSU.”

“No one is going to want to play South Carolina. LaNorris Sellers is a problem!!” Kanell wrote.

Coach Shane Beamer on Sunday shared multiple social media posts from national media that say the Gamecocks should be in the playoff. The USC coach made a case for South Carolina to make the postseason following its 17-14 win over Clemson.

The Gamecocks (9-3) haven’t lost since Oct. 12. While they do have three blemishes on their record — losses to LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama — there’s no truly bad loss.

“I don’t know if there is a hotter team in America than what we are,” Beamer said after the Clemson game. “Six wins in a row, four over ranked opponents, on the road for two of them. Outside of the Alabama loss, this was the first close road game we had all season.

“We are hot,” he added. “You want to be a team that is playing their best football at the end of the season. We sure are.”

Latest bowl projections for the Gamecocks

If South Carolina does miss the playoffs, the latest projections on where they will play their bowl game were released on Sunday. Here is a look at possible destinations for USC.

▪ CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Gator Bowl (Jan. 2) vs. Syracuse

▪ ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Music City Bowl (Dec. 30) vs. Minnesota

▪ ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Citrus Bowl (Dec. 31) vs. Illinois

▪ Sporting News: Citrus Bowl (Dec. 31) vs. Illinois

▪ 247Sports: Citrus Bowl: (Dec. 31) vs. Illinois