The final regular season Coaches’ Poll was released on Sunday, and South Carolina was ranked #20. Unlike the other ballots of the season, the Coaches’ individual votes are made public.
Let’s look at how they ranked the Gamecocks (click to read more):
#14
Larry Porter, Memphis
#15
Robb Akey, Idaho
Mark Richt, Georgia
#16
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
Mike London, Virginia
Rich Rodriguez, Michigan
Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
#17
Tim Beckman, Toledo
Todd Berry, Louisiana, Monroe
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Ron Zook, Illinois
#18
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Dave Christensen, Wyoming
Dan Enos, Central Michigan
Doug Marrone, Syracuse
Urban Meyer, Florida
Tom O’Brien, NC State
Bob Toledo, Tulane
#19
Todd Dodge, North Texas
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Paul Rhoads, Iowa State
Paul Wulff, Washington State
#20
Larry Fedora, Southern Miss
Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
Bill Lynch, Indiana
Mike Macintyre, San Jose State
Chris Peterson, Boise State
Mike Riley, Oregon State
Nick Saban, Alabama
Steve Sarkisian, Washington
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
#21
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Al Golden, Temple
Jim Harbaugh, Stanford
Butch Jones, Cincinnati
Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
Gary Pinkel, MIssouri
Mike Sherman, Texas A&M
#22
David Bailiff, Rice
Mike Haywood, Miami (OH)
Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic
Mike Stoops, Arizona
Jim Tressel, Ohio State
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
#23
Art Briles, Baylor
David Cutcliffe, Duke
Charlie Strong, Louisville
Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech
#24
Steve Fairchild, Colorado State
Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois
Mike Locksley, New Mexico
Jeff Quinn, Buffalo
#25
Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
Unranked
Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
George O’Leary, Central Florida
Kevin Sumlin, Houston
Of those Coaches who ranked South Carolina, the average was 20.15. The standard deviation was 3.03. Obviously this is a little off because 4 coaches didn’t rank the Gamecocks at all. I put in a value of 26th for those coaches.
Here’s how the votes broke down by conference:
| Conference | USC Average |
| ACC | 18.5 |
| Big East | 19.5 |
| SEC | 20 |
| Big Ten | 20.2 |
| Pac-10 | 20.40 |
| Non-BCS | 20.42 |
| Big 12 | 21 |
Coaches of teams that played against South Carolina ranked them an average of 18.8. Every coach of a team that played South Carolina voted the Gamecocks into the Top 25.
Four other coaches didn’t rank USC. Each of these Coaches had to choose some team(s) that didn’t make it into the final poll.
Here’s who they chose in South Carolina’s place:
| Sonny Dykes | UConn |
| Dan Mullen | UConn Navy |
| George O’Leary | UConn Maryland NC State |
| Kevin Sumlin | Northern Illinois Miami (OH) |
You can draw you own conclusions about whether those teams are more deserving than the SEC East champs.
