For one night at least, Florida’s dependable defense returned against South Carolina.
Despite having essentially no room for error and having to deal with several injuries to critical players, the unit that spearheaded the program for the first half of the season gave the Gators a better-than-expected opportunity to win.
In the end, the strong performance was not enough, as the Gators’ upset attempt was thwarted in a 19-14 loss to the Gamecocks on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“We followed the script in what we felt we needed to do to win the game,” coach Will Muschamp said. “Ball possession, field position, eat the clock, play good defense, which we did for the most part.”
With starting quarterback Tyler Murphy ruled out for the game, the Gators turned to a run-heavy offense to protect Murphy’s replacement, redshirt freshman Skyler Mornhinweg.
Although the decision worked in the first half, it also put the onus on the defense to limit South Carolina.
The group responded to the challenge.
Florida harassed Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw and prevented running back Mike Davis from breaking any game-changing runs.
Shaw completed 14 of 28 passes for 213 yards and one touchdown. Davis, a graduate of Stephenson High who entered Saturday leading the SEC in rushing at 117.6 yards per game, carried the ball 13 times for 54 yards, but failed to find the end zone.
“I thought our pass rush was pretty good for the most part,” Muschamp said. “That’s where they create plays. It’s with (Shaw) and his legs. He’s outstanding. Two years ago he killed us here. To limit him is huge.”
However, a scoring drive by South Carolina helped it overcome a late 14-13 deficit and an overall lackadaisical offensive performance.
After a false-start penalty pushed the Gamecocks to their own 5-yard line, tailback Shon Carson, who ran for 102 yards, ripped off a 58-yard rush up the middle.
“Just extremely disappointed with the run coming off the goal line,” Muschamp said. “We’ve got to make that play in that situation.”
Florida’s defense held inside the red zone, but one of its few miscues of the game allowed South Carolina to take a 16-14 lead on a 22-yard field goal by Elliott Fry with 6:43 remaining. Fry later added a 43-yard field goal.
Before the game, Florida (4-6, 3-5) announced that cornerback Marcus Roberson was suspended because of a violation of team rules. Roberson’s absence added insult to a Gators defense that has been forced to deal with a bevy of injuries.
The injuries have contributed to the defense’s recent regression. Florida entered the game first in the conference in total defense, but its performance had slipped in recent weeks.
After holding opponents to an average of 12.2 points and 217 yards of offense per game through the first five games of the season, the unit was consistently shredded during the team’s four-game losing streak.
In losses to LSU, Missouri, Georgia and Vanderbilt, Florida’s defense allowed an average of 27.5 points and 348.5 yards per game.
“We did OK,” Florida cornerback Cody Riggs said. “We gave up some plays that we shouldn’t have. Lost our focus, I think. We should have won the game for the offense. They put us in a good position early in the game. We were up eight points, but we didn’t come through for them.”
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