South Carolina football seems to be carving out its niche, where it fits in the constellation of preseason expectation.
AL.com conducted its annual poll of the SEC's 14 football information directors. The results, unsurprisingly, had Alabama and Georgia at the top (they played for a national title after all). But South Carolina was in solid position as well.
Those voters had the Gamecocks as No. 6 in the SEC overall, so top half of the conference, and second in the SEC East. That's two spots better than Florida and three ahead of Kentucky and Missouri, which tied for ninth.