In a nailbiter that came down to the final moments, South Carolina football took down their in-state rival Clemson, 17-14. LaNorris Sellers, who's done it all for the Gamecocks as a dual-threat quarterback this season, led his team down the field 75 yards, punctuated by a 20-yard go-ahead touchdown run. After the Palmetto Bowl win, South Carolina football head coach Shane Beamer appeared on SEC This Morning to tell Peter Burns, Chris Doering and College Football Playoff decision-makers why the Gamecocks are among the 12 best teams in the nation.

“Who are the 12 best teams right now?” Beamer said with a shrug. “It's hard for me to say that we're not one of 'em. I get it; we have three losses. I certainly understand that. Two of those losses are by a total of five points. And you look at when those losses occurred, the health of our team, the circumstances around those games. And then you look at where we are right now. I feel like we're certainly one of the 12 best. I wouldn't want to play us.

“We've got a six-game winning streak. Four wins this season over ranked teams. There's great teams across the country; the committee has a tough job. … Correct me if I'm wrong, we have four ranked wins. Penn State, Indiana, SMU, Clemson, Miami, Boise State and Notre Dame have zero. So your strength of schedule and who you play has to matter and we play in the toughest conference in America. We have the No. 11 strength of schedule. … There's a lot of things pointing up about South Carolina football.”

Entering last week, South Carolina was No. 15 in the CFP rankings, No. 16 in the AP Top 25 and No. 14 in the AFCA Coaches Poll. Clemson was ranked No. 12 in all three polls, so the Gamecocks will certainly move up, but how far up is the question.

South Carolina deserves CFP spot

The most important takeaway from Beamer's speech is the teams that haven't played anyone. His numbers are off about how many wins were ranked for each team but the schedules of the teams he mentioned are worth discussing.

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Conferences are so big now that several teams that didn't schedule any difficult opponents as part of their non-conference schedule have a season's worth of layups. Indiana is the most glaring case.

The Hoosiers played no one all year and then got handled by Ohio State. Their biggest win came against Michigan, who isn't that good, despite their upset win over the Buckeyes.

Penn State's biggest win came against No. 19 Illinois. SMU's biggest wins are against Louisville and Pitt. They'll face a test against Clemson at home later this week.

South Carolina had not won nine games since 2017 and has not reached double-digit wins since 2013 when Connor Shaw and Jadeveon Clowney led the team.

The Week 15 CFP rankings will be revealed on Tuesday, December 3.