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1961 South Carolina

4–⁠6 (3–⁠4 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Marvin Bass.

South Carolina, 1961
Photo: not named, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Schedule and results

South Carolina in 1961, game by game: lost vs. Duke 6–7; won at Wake Forest 10–7; lost at Georgia 14–17; lost vs. LSU 0–42; lost vs. North Carolina 0–17; won vs. Maryland 20–10; lost at Virginia 20–28; won vs. Clemson 21–14; lost at NC State 14–38; won at Vanderbilt 23–7+16−42Lost 6–7 vs. Duke-1DukeWon 10–7 at Wake Forest+3Wake ForestLost 14–17 at Georgia-3GeorgiaLost 0–42 vs. LSU-42LSULost 0–17 vs. North Carolina-17North CarolinaWon 20–10 vs. Maryland+10MarylandLost 20–28 at Virginia-8VirginiaWon 21–14 vs. Clemson+7ClemsonLost 14–38 at NC State-24NC StateWon 23–7 at Vanderbilt+16Vanderbilt
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 23vsDukeL 6–⁠743%
Sep 30atWake ForestW 10–⁠749%
Oct 7atGeorgiaL 14–⁠1740%
Oct 14vsLSUL 0–⁠4238%
Oct 21vsNorth CarolinaL 0–⁠1751%
Oct 28vsMarylandW 20–⁠1036%
Nov 4atVirginiaL 20–⁠2860%
Nov 11vsClemsonW 21–⁠1436%
Nov 18atNC StateL 14–⁠3838%
Nov 25atVanderbiltW 23–⁠743%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Vanderbilt 23–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 5th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 90th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 123 on file).

Record
4–⁠6
Conference
3–⁠4 tied for 5th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
128–⁠187
Coach
Marvin Bass
Elo
1443 −18 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
0.8 No. 57 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Dave Adam and Dave Sowell

All-ACC

2 first team

First team

  • Jim MossOTAP-1; UPI-1; ACSwA-1
  • Billy GambrellBUPI-1; ACSWA-1

From Wikipedia’s 1961 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1961 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Duke5–⁠17–⁠320
North Carolina4–⁠35–⁠5
Maryland3–⁠37–⁠3
Clemson3–⁠35–⁠5
South Carolina3–⁠44–⁠6
Wake Forest3–⁠44–⁠6
NC State3–⁠44–⁠6
Virginia2–⁠44–⁠6

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.