In last week’s rankings, the committee slotted the trio in this order: No. 13 Alabama, No. 14 Ole Miss and No. 15 South Carolina. Since then, the Gamecocks were the only team to beat a ranked opponent, knocking off No. 12 Clemson.

Alabama, South Carolina, and Ole Miss are on the bubble, with Texas, Tennessee and Georgia likely three of the 12 teams. The highest-ranked three-loss SEC team that misses the CFP will likely play in the Citrus Bowl, with other SEC teams playing in the other eight bowls with conference affiliations.

Dawn Staley has challenged South Carolina with an extremely tough early season schedule. The No. 3 Gamecocks have already faced four opponents who have made appearances in the AP Top 25 and have two more this week with No. 8 Duke and No. 9 TCU on the schedule.

With expectations now out the window, BC will play in the ACC/SEC challenge against South Carolina on Tuesday evening.

In 2023, Boston College defeated Vanderbilt on the road 80-62 and South Carolina beat Notre Dame at home 65-53. The Gamecocks have already played and defeated an ACC team this season, beating Virginia Tech 70-60 to take third place in the Beach Division of the Fort Myers Tip-Off last week.