South Carolina at Florida Preview

by Lee Wardlaw

After the South Carolina Gamecocks lost to 6th-ranked Georgia and 11th-ranked Kentucky in the season’s first month, all hope was lost for a chance for the team to win the SEC Eastern Division and make a trip to the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1st.

With hopes of winning the division vanished, South Carolina still had a chance to save face against the Texas A&M on October 13th. With a win, the Gamecocks could project confidence heading into the second half of the season and maintain their hope of having a winning season. However, a 26-23 loss meant that struggling South Carolina would fall to 3-3 (2-3, SEC) with an unforgiving schedule in the foresight. The upcoming duo included Tennessee and Ole Miss appeared to be toss-up games, and road contests against Florida in The Swamp and Clemson in Death Valley seemed daunting.

Many speculated that the Gamecocks would have to reschedule Marshall just to reach six wins and bowl eligibility. With the team’s struggles, you couldn’t help but wonder.

Offensive Issues

Offensive Coordinator Bryan McClendon’s unit had an array of problems, marred by inconsistent quarterback play from Jake Bentley. Long passes were often off target, and the third-year starter was tied with Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald for the most interceptions in the SEC. When Bentley was throwing the ball well, his receivers weren’t catching the ball. Against the Aggies, five receivers dropped passes, including “passes to Samuel and Edwards (that) would have led to big gains in the first half.”

The offense wasn’t the only problem, either…

The offense has struggled in certain games. Image from Charlotte Observer.

Defensive Issues

South Carolina’s bend-but-not break red zone defense kept each game except for Georgia within reach, but the rushing defense was beyond anemic, allowing opponents to milk the clock and wear down Gamecocks’ defenders.

Let’s break it down: Georgia, Kentucky, and Missouri each averaged 250.6 yards per game. In contests against Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, each opponent only averaged 98.5 yards. Despite this, let’s remember that the Aggies passed for 353 yards against South Carolina, which was supposed to be the defense’s strength.

South Carolina’s defense is working out their issues. Image from USA Today.

All in all, South Carolina couldn’t seem to put the pieces together, and the best case scenario would probably be 7-5, a step down from Muschamp’s second season at the helm.

Suddenly, things have turned around for the Gamecocks since the second half against Tennessee. Now, a win against 6.5-point favorite Florida in Gainesville this Saturday would mean that South Carolina could very likely reach it’s win total from last season with home contests against Chattanooga and Akron upcoming.

Reasons for Success

1. Quarterback Success

First, give credit to Jake Bentley. The third-year starter has done more than enough to keep the ball moving, tossing 33 of 48 passes for 518 yards, a 68.8% completion percentage, and three touchdowns.

 2. Turnover Margin

Before Tennessee, interceptions were poison to the Gamecocks, seriously handicapping the team’s chances of winning any given game. Remember, turnover margin is very important in determining the winner of any given college football game.

Bentley threw his eighth interception with 11:09 remaining in the first quarter, directly led to the Vols’ first touchdown of the night. He hasn’t thrown an interception since then. Additionally, the Gamecocks haven’t fumbled, and they turned a D.J Wonnum fumble recovery against Ole Miss into a field goal in the first quarter last weekend.

The defense hasn’t been creating as many turnovers as last season, but at least the offense hasn’t coughed the ball up in South Carolina’s two-game winning streak.

3. Running Game

The Gamecocks have been torched by opposing runners this season, and for most of the season, it’s been downright embarrassing. Making things worse, South Carolina’s running backs usually hadn’t been able to muster a rushing attack of their own.

Excluding Vanderbilt, South Carolina was averaging 96.5 yards per game in conference games headed into the Tennessee game. Against the Vols and the Rebels, they’ve averaged 185.5 yards per game.

South Carolina’s running game has been stagnant at times. Image from 247Sports.

4. Fourth Quarter Defense

South Carolina’s defense is usually resilient, which helps it to fight many of its flaws. But the unit’s performance in the fourth quarter in the last two games helped the Gamecocks tremendously. Other than a 5-play 37 yard touchdown from Ole Miss that culminated with 14:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, South Carolina hasn’t allowed a score in the final period against either the Vols or Rebels.

 Florida Advantages

Rushing Offense

As I mentioned earlier, while the Gamecocks have improved on the ground, they’ve struggled most of the season. South Carolina will rely on Mon Denson (102 yards vs. Ole Miss) and A.J Turner, as Rico Dowdle (ankle) and Ty’Son Williams (hand) left last weekend’s game with injuries in the first half.

Florida’s rushing attack is a team strength, as the Gators average 182.4 yards per game behind the three-headed attack of Jordan Scarlett, Lamical Perine, and Dameon Pierce.

Jordan Scarlett is one piece of Florida’s deep backfield. Image from USA Today.

Pass Rush

The Gators can control the Gamecocks if the defensive line can fluster Jake Bentley, perhaps creating sacks and turnovers. The scariest thing in the Swamp for South Carolina will be Florida’s front four, who is led by the defensive end duo of Jachai Polite and Jabari Zuniga. Polite is fourth in the SEC with seven sacks, along with forcing four fumbles. Jabari Zuniga is 11th in the conference in both sacks (4.5) and tackles for loss (nine.)

The good news for South Carolina is that while Florida had an SEC-leading 21 sacks in the first seven games of 2017, they’ve only recorded one in each of the last two games.

South Carolina Advantages

Passing Offense

Jake Bentley hasn’t been perfect for the Gamecocks, but he’s demonstrated an improved downfield passing ability, while limiting drive killing interceptions. The third-year starter has a 1-8 record against Top 25 opponents, and will be tested by a Gators’ pass defense that is ranked 19th nationally.

However, there’s reason to believe that South Carolina can pass against the Gators, as the Bentley one-two punch to Deebo Samuel and Bryan Edwards is hitting its stride. Samuel and Edwards have grabbed a combined 74 receptions just under 1,000 yards, accounting for 84% of Bentley’s touchdowns.

Image from the State.

This would be the ideal game for them all to play well together. They were torched by Jake Fromm of Georgia (17 of 24 for 250 yards) and Drew Lock of Missouri (24 of 32 for 250 yards).

Feleipe Franks has been struggling under center for Florida. In his last four games, he’s completed 53 of 99 passes for just a 53.5% completion percentage, with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Franks completed only 9 of 22 passes for 84 yards, who are ranked 14th in the SEC in passing defense. Kyle Trask replaced Franks and played slightly better, completing 10 of 18 passes for 126 yards. However, Trask was carted off of the field with a non-contact injury on Wednesday, and it appears that he could be out for the rest of the season.

Head Coach Dan Mullen did not seem to be pleased with the situation, either. “I’ve always said we’ll look and see how practice goes. We might play two quarterbacks, might play three,” Mullen said.