Key takeaways from Florida’s blowout win over South Carolina
The Florida Gators put all the pieces together on Saturday and stomped the South Carolina Gamecocks, 38-6.
It was a great day on both offense and defense for the team, and the win means that Florida has secured bowl eligibility no matter what happens over the next two weeks. The rushing attack was the big story of the day with three players finishing the game with triple digits (okay, Anthony Richardson took a sack and fell below that threshold, but you get the point).
Coming into the game, Florida knew it had a chance to exploit South Carolina’s porous defense, but no one thought they’d see a historic performance like that. The last time Florida had three rushers pass the century mark was almost 40 years ago on Oct. 20, 1984.
If that’s not impressive enough, Florida’s defense had its best game of the year by far. They started things off with a three-and-out and never really looked back as the offense padded the lead. Florida forced three straight turnovers in the second half to put the game out of reach, and Gators fans around the world were finally able to take a big sigh of relief. The damage down by former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is slowly fading away.
UF did stumble a bit on special teams, but it wasn’t enough to give SCAR a path to come back. The season opener against Utah might be Florida’s best win of the season on paper, but this game is giving that one a run for its money.
Here are five major takeaways from Florida’s big conference win over South Carolina.
Florida came to play
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
The Gators might have put together their best first half of the season against South Carolina on Saturday. Outscoring the Gamecocks 24-6, Florida’s only blemish through the first two quarters was a surprise fake punt that went for six, and that’s bound to happen against a Beamer team with the top special team efficiency rate in the country.
[autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] didn’t have to be the hero in this one, although he did contribute to the team’s 281 first-half rushing yards. And, perhaps more importantly, the Gators’ defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive and never looked back.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Florida’s defense come out of the half and make sound adjustments, but that wasn’t necessary this time around. Fans should be just as happy as Billy Napier was with his team’s effort.
Trevor Etienne is going to be a problem for the SEC
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
[autotag]Trevor Etienne[/autotag] has flashed his potential plenty of times this season, but he put the nation on notice Saturday with an 85-yard touchdown that lit the Swamp (and Twitter) on fire in the first quarter.
Truth be told, Florida’s entire rushing attack was on fire. Etienne, Richardson and [autotag]Montrell Johnson Jr[/autotag]. all rushed for over 100 yards, with Johnson leading the pack (161 yards on 24 carries). Each man scored a touchdown.
Vanderbilt and Florida State are ranked in the middle of the pack in terms of run defense, so they will have to plan to stop a rushing attack that is hitting its stride.
Winning the turnover battle put the game out of reach
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
The Gators forced three fumbles in the third quarter, and that made all the difference in this one. South Carolina came into the second half down three scores, and turning the ball over on each of the first three drives put the game out of reach.
The first came courtesy of [autotag]Rashad Torrence II[/autotag], who forced the fumble with a monster hit on Antwane Wells Jr. and recovered it himself. That’s the first time a Gator has forced and recovered a fumble since Taven Bryan did it against South Carolina in 2016.
It wouldn’t take long for the phenomenon to happen again. Big [autotag]Desmond Watson[/autotag] literally ripped the ball away from Jaheim Bell on the very next drive. The 400-pounder was somehow shoved to the ground by Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler, but a replay revealed that he held onto the ball.
But wait, there’s more! True freshman [autotag]Kamari Wilson[/autotag] knocked a ball loose, giving Florida three takeaways in as many drives. [autotag]Trey Dean III[/autotag] picked the ball up this time and got to the sideline before losing the ball and letting it bounce out of bounds.
Unfortunately, those turnovers resulted in just seven points for the Gators, but the game was essentially put away by the start of the fourth quarter because of them.
Down a few pass catchers, the second team stepped up
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
While the big story of the night was Florida’s rushing attack, there were some encouraging signs on the passing front as well. First, we have to remember that Florida was down both [autotag]Justin Shorter[/autotag], the team’s leading pass catcher, and his backup, [autotag]Ja’Quavion Fraziars[/autotag].
That turned out to be a non-issue for Florida as freshman [autotag]Caleb Dougla[/autotag]s stepped up in their place and led the team in receiving with three catches on four targets and 53 yards. [autotag]Xavier Henderson[/autotag] provided just 15 yards, but he didn’t have to be effective for Florida to win this one.
The tight ends got involved too. [autotag]Jonathan Odom[/autotag] made his first two catches of the season, including a four-yard touchdown in the third quarter — the first of his career. [autotag]Dante Zanders[/autotag] also had a nicely designed play that saw Richardson hit him on a drag route for 11 yards.
Special teams was a bit sloppy
Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun
As good as this game was for Florida, the obvious weakness was on special teams. The fake punt from South Carolina in the first half that went for a 48-yard touchdown fooled the Gators, and [autotag]Adam Mihalek[/autotag] had a 36-yard field goal blocked in the third quarter. We’ve already discussed how Shane Beamer has made SCAR one of the top special teams programs in all of college football, but moments like that took some of the wind out of Florida’s sails.
Jeremy Crashaw managed to save a bit of face for Florida’s gamechanger unit by booming a 67-yard punt within five yards of the end zone in the fourth quarter, but overall this was the weakest part of Florida’s game. Napier will surely be addressing those issues over the next week.
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