COLUMBIA, S.C. — Florida played its second homecoming game in two weeks, but this one wasn’t nearly as welcoming as the first in front of a hostile crowd of 80,250.
South Carolina (8-2, 6-2 SEC) beat Florida (5-5, 3-5 SEC) for the second straight year in much the same fashion as last year, using a dominant running game in the first half to gash the Gators en route to a 17-12 win.
Much like Florida’s previous close losses to Auburn and Georgia, Saturday’s game was decided by a few key turnovers and an inability to come up with enough stops defensively late in the game.
“We’ve had three ball games, we’ve had our opportunities,” head coach Will Muschamp said. “It goes back to turnovers, critical errors. You’ve got to make plays, you’ve got to make a play on the ball down the field. In a situation where it’s a field goal game, we’ve got to execute in those situations.”
Twice Florida got down inside South Carolina’s 5-yard line and had to settle for field goals.
On the first drive, midway through the first quarter, the Gators got down to the 2-yard line before two straight runs lost five yards. Kicker Caleb Sturgis nailed a 21-yard field goal to put Florida up 3-0.
Later in the game, with Florida trailing 14-3 midway through the third quarter, the Gators got down to the South Carolina 5-yard line. Facing a 3rd and 2, left tackle Xavier Nixon jumped for a false start, backing the play up five yards and forcing the Gators to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Sturgis.
“We doing good getting the penalties down, but man there’s certain ones that just kill us,” senior running back Chris Rainey said. “On the 7-yard line about to go in or try to get a first down and just came up too short, got the penalty and backed it up and made it more harder.”
Another problem that continued to plague the Gators in their fifth loss in the past six games was their inability to stop the run.
After holding Vanderbilt to just 80 yards rushing last week, the Gators gave up 215 yards to the Gamecocks.
Quarterback Connor Shaw ran wild in the second quarter and finished the game with 88 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
“We need to do a better job in our pass rush discipline,” Muschamp said. “We were on the edge twice, and two times we just were there and you’ve got to make a tackle. You’ve got to finish the play. We didn’t finish.”
Florida didn’t do itself any favors on offense, either. The Gators fumbled twice and lost both of them, giving the team 24 fumbles in 10 games.
Running back Jeff Demps put one on the turf midway through the second quarter, and South Carolina took over in good field position to take a 7-3 lead after converting the turnover into a touchdown.
Muschamp’s answer for the penalties and the fumbles was simple.
Irritated, he simply responded: “We’ve just got to play different guys.”
After falling to Steve Spurrier and South Carolina, Florida is back to .500 for the second time this season. The Gators end SEC play with a losing record for the first time since 1986.
Florida will host Furman on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a bowl bid potentially on the line. The Gators need one more win to become bowl eligible.