Gamecocks Join the Ranks

South Carolina made it to No. 19 in the Associated Press media poll Sunday, its first time in the rankings under new Coach Steve Spurrier.

“Well, that’s wonderful,” Spurrier said when told about the ranking. “That was one of the goals, for the team to finish the regular season ranked.”

The Gamecocks (7-3) ended a 14-game losing streak to Spurrier’s former school Saturday, beating Florida, 30-22, at Columbia, S.C.

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Kevin Kolb threw for 315 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead host Houston (5-4, 3-3 Conference USA) to a 27-24 victory over Southern Mississippi on Sunday (5-4, 4-2).... Paul Martinez converted a 19-yard field goal with one second left to give Oregon (9-1, 6-1) a 34-31 Pacific 10 Conference victory over Washington State (3-7, 0-7) on Saturday at Spokane, Wash. .... Colt Brennan threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Hawaii (4-6, 4-4 Western Athletic Conference) past Utah State, 50-23, Saturday at Honolulu. Brennan had 386 yards passing. Utah State is 2-7, 1-5.

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Occidental (9-0), the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion, will play defending national champion Linfield (8-0) on Saturday at McMinnville, Ore., in the first round of the Division III championships.