The September 1 game versus UCF played host to ESPN's College Gameday, the second year in a row that South Carolina had hosted the program. During the show, ESPN personality Lee Corso made disparaging remarks about the viability of the South Carolina football program which were met with derision by the Columbia crowd. In the 2005 season, the Gamecocks defeated Tennessee and Florida, two of the three teams Corso stated they could never beat.[2]
‡ As part of their penalty for NCAA violations, Alabama has retroactively vacated its 2005 victory over South Carolina. However, the penalty to vacate victories does not result in a loss (or forfeiture) of the affected game or award a victory to the opponent, therefore South Carolina still considers the game a loss in their official records.[4]