.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Hey, what's the big idea?
South Carolina just thumped No. 1 Alabama last Saturday. The Gamecocks didn't win by a point or by a field goal. They won by 14.
You've seen the polls? Alabama is No. 8. South Carolina is No. 10.
Do the Gamecocks have a beef?
We asked Chuck Oliver of 680 The Fan and John Cooper, the former Ohio State coach who votes weekly on the Legends Poll.
Oliver: In big-time college football, especially in a conference with a title game, I promise it will all work itself out. Should South Carolina be ranked ahead of Alabama? Let them play out these final four or five conference games and get to the Georgia Dome and decide.
South Carolina will decide where it will be ranked at the end of the year. It won't be writers and it won't be the coaches poll. Wherever they are ranked on Oct. 13 is inconsequential.
You always use that phrase, "Act like you've been here before." South Carolina hasn't been here before. Its fans should not get upset when something like this happens.
That was a butt-kicking by South Carolina. They had nine possessions and scored touchdowns on five of them. That was not a fluke. South Carolina blew them off the line of scrimmage.
Cooper: If a team beats another team head-to-head, sure, you would say they are better than them. But just look at the Big Ten last year. Purdue beat Ohio State, one of the few conference games Purdue won and the only conference game Ohio State lost. So I'm not going to put Purdue ahead of Ohio State in the polls.
You have to look at the total picture. All things being equal, I would agree, head-to-head competition is important.
You got to look at all of it. If that was the case, you could win one game and be ranked ahead of others that won more games. I love South Carolina. They did everything perfect in that game. Alabama is going to play you man-to-man coverage and South Carolina wideouts made all the plays.
But I still had Alabama fourth this week in my poll and South Carolina ranked No. 11.
