[Tuck4Bama]

South Carolina took the first step Saturday toward contending for the SEC East crown.

But a day after the Gamecocks’ rousing 16-12 victory at Georgia, USC coach Steve Spurrier cautioned that the road to Atlanta, site of the SEC championship game, is a long one that will be considerably bumpy if his team does not continue to improve.

USC’s first win against Georgia in six years vaulted the Gamecocks into The Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 17, their highest ranking since finishing the 2001 season ranked No. 13.

The only other time USC has been ranked under Spurrier was 2005, when a five-game winning streak that featured consecutive wins against Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida earned the Gamecocks a No. 19 ranking. They fell out of the poll the following week with a 13-9 loss to Clemson.

USC (2-0, 1-0 SEC) is No. 23 in this week’s coaches poll.

“One of our goals was to end the season as a ranked team. So we’re there now and hopefully we can stay there,” Spurrier said Sunday.

“We really need to play a lot better than we did last night if we’re going to have a chance for a big year. We can’t rely on a lot of good luck, a lot of good fortune that happened for us. Hopefully, we can get better because we have a pretty good team. Not a great team, but a pretty good team if we can play a lot smarter.”

GoGamecocks.com | Spurrier: Win is big but work to do