Week 5/ 2: #3 38 Florida Gators, South Carolina Gamecocks 24 10/3

[Escambia94]

The #3 Florida Gators return home to the Swamp and host former head coach Will Muschamp and his Fightin' Gamecocks. Florida is coming off a resounding victory over Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels 51-35, while the Fightin' Muschamps are licking their wounds from a letdown loss to the Tennessee Volunteers 27-38. The Gators are favored over the Gamecocks by 18.5. The game will be broadcast on ESPN starting at noon Eastern Time.

The Gators are 28-9-3 all-time against the Gamecocks in a series that goes back to October 21, 1911, a 6-6 tie in Columbia, South Carolina. The Gators have won the last two games 38-27 and 35-31. Will Muschamp is 1-4 against his former Gators. The Gators are undefeated against Muschamp when they are ranked.

• 2019 (Columbia, SC) #9 Florida 38, SC 27
• 2018 (Gainesville, FL) #19 Florida 35, SC 31
• 2017 (Columbia, SC) SC 28, Florida 20
• 2016 (Gainesville, FL) #22 Florida 20, SC 7

South Carolina will place the entire game on the shoulders of Collin Hill, who has faced the Gators before as QB of the Colorado State Rams in 2018. In that game he was 2/8 for 23 yards with 1 rush for 1 yard. Last week he was 25/39 for 290 yards 1 TD 1 INT against a good Tennessee defense, so the Gators's torched defense should not take him lightly. Hill's top target is WR Shi Smith (10 REC 140 YD 1 TD last week), who is very similar to Ole Miss WR Elijah Moore and will likely cause similar damage in the middle of the Gator defense. Carolina's other receivers Xavier Legette, Nick Muse, and Deshaun Fenwick combined for 12 receptions for 104 yards. Mike Bobo's offense is built around balance, so expect the Gamecocks to run 35 run plays and 35 pass plays in this game. Last week the Gamecocks were horrible in their 35 run plays and were not able to break 100 yards. Defense has always been the bread and butter for Will Muschamp's teams, and he certainly has some studs in Kingsley Enagbare, Zacch Pickens, Ernest Jones, and Jaycee Horn.

Florida will look to continue expanding its offensive juggernaut of TE Kyle Trask, RB Dameon Pierce, and WR Kadarius Toney. Florida's rushing attack is by committee, but is led by Pierce with occasional explosive runs from Toney. The Carolina defense is built to stop the run, so it will take all of its running backs and H-backs to get the ground game going. At receiver the Gators showed plenty of depth by spreading 443 yards across 11 different receivers. On defense Todd Grantham is licking his chops at the opportunity to wreak havoc on a Carolina offensive line that allowed 4 sacks last week and failed to get enough push to get the running game started.

Games between Florida and South Carolina are usually marred with turnovers and missed tackles. The Gators cannot afford to continue missing tackles, so this game will show us if those missed assignments were due to the missing Gator defenders and the complexities of the Ole Miss offense or if the Gators are going to continue with sloppy defensive play. If the Gators can maintain discipline on defense and not turn the ball over, they should cruise to a 42-21 victory.

 

[DRU2012]

Pretty well a by-the-numbers, Gators-SHOULD-be-and-ARE favored game:
Aside from the obvious, “long-as-they-fix-that-bumbling-defense” thing, AND the fact that Muschamp’s job is on the line (and his players KNOW it), just don’t get looking ahead to going on the road NEXT week!

 

[DRU2012]

Alright:
We learn something substantially more about this Gator squad today—especially the DEfense, hopefully. I have a feeling Grantham & Co. ESPECIALLY will have some rough edges to smooth and overall finishing done.
Even on offense, I think we’ll see Coach Dan focus a bit more on establishing a game-long running game, if he (and THEY) can...
The thing is to “take care of business” in efficient fashion, while giving away as little more as we can for future opponents to prepare for, BEFORE turning to NEXT week’s meeting with A&M: THAT team is looking better, SOONER than most “experts” expected.
But first things first. We get to 2-0 healthy—further fit, build, and polish what is “a work in progress” for these 2020 Gators in “The Year of the Pandemic”, with so many things stacked against us all...
I anticipate this being a closer, more frustrating and challenging game early than expected—but eventually I think we DO pull away, as expected.
NEXT week’s game on the road is the first one that really worries me; I just hope our TEAM doesn’t get caught looking ahead. I doubt our coaches let that happen—but they’re kids, after all.
Hopefully, the staff has them looking at each of these as “learning, BUILDING experiences” regardless. From our P.O.V., this would be a time of “The Return of the Gator” in ANY event.
All the rest (including the all-SEC schedule, by-the-way: I mean, how can you put what the PAC-12 is doing now, or even the “Big’n’Slow Ten” for that matter, are doing in the same discussion of “Playoff contenders” as ANYONE in this season’s SEC??!) just makes it MORE of a challenge.
This year (especially after Oklahoma’s early loss) it really DOES appear that you end up having the top two SEC teams square off somehow against Clemsen and MAYBE (choose one) an Undefeated Texas, or a third SEC squad (potentially with just one loss themselves) to arrive at a “fair” playoff grouping...but let’s face it: If Ohio State goes undefeated, they’re probably in there—and even after OU’s opening loss, if UT stumbles (as they tend to do under this Coach) and the Sooners win out from here, in the event of some wild unexpected upsets elsewhere along the way, THEY’D get the nod over a third SEC team—supposedly for the sake of “balance”. But WE all know that this year more than ever, the SEC is reducing things to “the three or four best college teams in the nation“ entirely in their own.
I know, I know—I am getting WAY ahead of myself: It’s only the second game of the season, for goodness sakes. But things are already disintegrating into “apples and oranges” comparisons among schedules and circumstances among the different conferences, regions and media biases. I’d like to see ALL our SEC programs get the respect and credit they are due as this season inevitably plays out.
More than ever, each GAME is a big deal, fraught with weight and meaning as we build through this uniquely intense season. Here comes another one: Sorry, Will, but we must come out and absolutely BURY you, if we can. More than ever, that’s just how things are—this time more than ever.

 

[DRU2012]

Sigh. Defense DOESN’T look “fixed” to me. Not in the slightest.
Either this changes FAST—or get ready for a long, let-down of a season, oh my brothers...

 

[DRU2012]

This looks like “the worst case scenario”:
Gator D turns out to be every bit as unready as they looked last week.
Unless the offense is every bit as good against this Muschamp-coached D as they looked against Ol’ Miss, we are in big trouble.

 

[DRU2012]

Well, we ARE moving the ball.
But please, oh PLEASE: Let us show some Florida-style defense today.

 

[DRU2012]

This is looking more and more like an old 90s-era, Spurrier-style, “hang-half-a-hundred-on-ya” Gator all-offense team.

 

[DRU2012]

But to win Championships nowadays, with Saban and the likes of his well-recruited, well-balanced BOTH sides of the ball teams (and teams both in and now outside the SEC now beginning to match them—Clemsen being the most successful thus far) ya gotta play a LITTLE decent D too! I mean, just to get to the playoffs, no matter HOW much scoring you do, you damn well better be able to stop the likes of South Carolina a certain part of the time. I mean, DAMN.

 

[DRU2012]

But yes, this O is for REAL.

 

[DRU2012]

Yikes. We can NOT afford to give the ball away—against ANYONE.
Anyone else thinking this is a way over-rated Gator team overall? We just don’t look strong on defense—and it will kill us sooner or later...The way it’s going now, it could be today. I am very disappointed in our not seeming ready today after all.
We just gave it to them and surrendered a dominant running drive.
Damn. DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!

 

[DRU2012]

Excuse me while I sulk for the remainder of this half—at LEAST.

 

[Escambia94]

Defense looks like crap. Running game looks like crap. RPO/ Zone Read looks like crap. Other than that, they look great.

 

[DRU2012]

We might lose this.

 

[DRU2012]

I still think we are the better team—but we are NOT having a great game against what is at BEST a mediocre Gamecock’s team. EITHER we get this ball and score a TD before the half, or I’m afraid we’ll be LUCKY to pull this one out late.
Geez. Against South Carolina. I figured coming in that this was probably our easiest game, getting these guys at home early. I’m already getting myself psychologically ready to lose NEXT week in College Station, even if we DO manage to win this one.

 

[DRU2012]

Defense looks like crap. Running game looks like crap. RPO/ Zone Read looks like crap. Other than that, they look great.

Ha ha. Thanks. Here I was getting WORRIED.

 

[Escambia94]

The Gators look okay, but not great so far.

 

[DRU2012]

Saved by THEIR bumbling (for a change here)...

 

[Escambia94]

Gators looking better on offense and defense.

 

[DRU2012]

Alright. Up 17 pts half way through the 3rd...I figure we stop them once more this qrtr, then drive for one more TD ourselves and we pretty well put this one away—just have to play them even through the final quarter for the win.
Not that this has been a particularly reassuring game so far—but if it continues to play out this way, our first loss won’t be this week. I’m still not looking forward to NEXT week, though... We would have to take a HUGE jump on defense, AND get more than our share of breaks, to beat A&M at their place.

 

[DRU2012]

Defense FINALLY starting to hold its own, shoulder the load...They continue like this, maybe we DO at least stay IN next week’s game.