The Florida Gators were dominated by the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night. The Gators have now lost three consecutive games, and their record is below .500. Now, head coach Dan Mullen could be on the hot seat due to the performance of his squad this season, and especially in this game. Here’s a recap of Florida’s blowout loss to South Carolina.
Recap
Offense
The Gators were out-gained in yards for the first time this year. Emory Jones started at quarterback in this game, and he threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns. However, he only had a completion rate of around 50%. The quarterback rushing game wasn’t too effective either, for Emory only had two yards per carry on the ground.
Surprisingly, Dameon Pierce only had six rushing attempts on the game. He had 40 yards, and it seemed comical that Mullen chose to not feed Pierce more. Malik Davis also had six rushes for 17 yards, but Florida couldn’t get the running game going.
Receivers Justin Shorter and Marcus Burke each finished with more than 50 receiving yards. Those yards came from very few plays, which shows the inability of Florida’s passing game to be consistent. But then again, what’s new?
Defense
Let’s start off slow. Quarterback Jason Brown threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns for South Carolina. Although those stats don’t seem impressive, he operated as a game manager and made the right plays throughout the game.
Now, the rushing game was a different story. Running backs Kevin Harris and Zaquandre White combined for 29 carries and 250 yards. The dominance by South Carolina’s rushing attack felt like a replay of Tyrion Davis-Price coming down the middle in the LSU game. Fans can continue to complain about defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, but there’s much more on the defensive side of the ball that requires change.
Concluding Thoughts
After three rather devastating losses on the ‘road’, Florida will head back home to take on Samford next week. The Gators main focus now is to obtain bowl eligibility, and live to fight another day. It’s incredible how the direction of the Florida Gators’ program has changed from the Alabama matchup to the South Carolina game.
FL Teams has partnered with “The AJ Show”. AJ covered the Florida Gators vs. South Carolina Gamecocks game! Check out his play-by-play reactions along with smack talk from the game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdRUDr2egvI