The Florida Gators football team’s performance this week was much easier on the eyes than the atrocious one from a week ago. While a 20-7 win over South Carolina doesn’t exactly spell blowout, the game was just a couple plays away from getting out of hand in Florida’s favor.
Will Muschamp’s game plan didn’t look like it had missed a beat in his homecoming as an opposing head coach. The Gamecocks were a team playing not to lose too big, while the Gators were a team playing to win with a purpose. After a game with almost no positives to speak of last week, the Gators redeemed themselves this week.
Losses
There are only a couple things to really call losses this week for Florida. The Gators were not perfect, but looked to be in a much better mindset against the Gamecocks.
LOSS #1: Several seniors missed playing on Senior Day with injuries piling up
Florida has to have one of the longest injury lists in the country, with nine different starters currently out or uncertain for next week’s game at LSU. It started last week with redshirt junior center Cameron Dillard (leg), redshirt sophomore quarterback Luke Del Rio (shoulder), redshirt junior linebacker Alex Anzalone (broken arm, out for the season), senior linebacker Jarrad Davis (ankle), and sophomore defensive end Cece Jefferson (leg) all sustaining injuries in the Arkansas game. The curse is still hanging over the Gators’ heads this week. It started on Florida’s very first offensive play of the game when new starting center Tyler Jordan went down with an ankle injury. Things only went downhill from there, as senior safety Marcus Maye, junior left tackle David Sharpe, and senior defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. all added their names to the list.
Following the game, Jim McElwain announced that the game would not only be Maye’s last game at home, it would be his last game played in orange and blue. He broke his arm while making his only tackle of the game on Senior Day and will miss the rest of the season. It was a rather sad day to see several players who were honored before the game either not finish the game or not have the chance to play. Cox Jr. left the game with an injury, but there has been no update on a timeline (if there is one) for him. Along with the injuries, senior wide receiver Chris Thompson was forced to miss a majority of the game after being ejected in the first quarter for a targeting penalty on a punt. Anzalone and Davis also missed their final game in The Swamp due to their injuries. That means five of Florida’s nine seniors on scholarship had their final home game taken away from them in some way.
LOSS #2: Turnovers
Florida had three turnovers on the day, two of which came on great scoring opportunities for the Gators as they were driving down the field. The first came from running back Mark Thompson on what would have been a two-yard pick-up and a first down for Florida on the South Carolina 20-yard line. The second came on the very next drive, this time on first-and-goal on the South Carolina five-yard line, on a poor snap. This one was somewhat understandable, considering the Gators were down to third-string center T.J. McCoy and he and quarterback Austin Appleby likely hadn’t been working with each other too much in preparation for South Carolina. Either way, the snap did hit Appleby’s hands and the fumble came at a very inopportune time. Instead of being up 21-0 at that point and likely putting the game out of reach for a young Gamecocks offense, the Gators were just ahead by a single touchdown. The final turnover came at the end of the half, as second-half Tennessee Appleby reared his ugly head again with an ill-advised throw into triple-coverage that was intercepted.
Surprisingly, all three of Florida’s turnovers came in the first half, which was the most productive half of play for the offense. The turnovers didn’t really have much of an impact on the game, besides keeping the Gators from running up the score early, but sloppy football will not fly next week in Baton Rouge. Florida’s offense will need to take of every opportunity it can get next week, because those opportunities will be hard to come by.
Wins
Even with a few bumps in the road on Senior Day, the Gators made a complete turnaround against a South Carolina team that had been hot in previous weeks.
WIN #1: Appleby was serviceable in the place of Del Rio
With Del Rio out with a shoulder injury, Florida turned to Appleby to start for the third time this season. The Gators have struggled with keeping a starting quarterback available throughout the season since the end of the Tim Tebow Era, but Appleby is the best backup option Florida has had yet. Del Rio had not been the same since coming back from his knee injury, and the change at quarterback was long overdue. A change should have been made early in the Arkansas game, but it was better late than never. When Appleby drove the Gators down the field for a touchdown in less than two minutes on the very first drive, it became clear he was the better option and it would be a much different game. His arm strength and running ability is unmatched by Del Rio and when he has time to make good decisions (which he did), he puts almost every throw right on the money. Appleby finished the game 17-of-21 passing for 201 yards. His completion percentage was the fifth best in a game in Florida history.
There has been good and bad in each of Appleby’s performances this season, but at this point there is no question, he is the starter moving forward. Unless something changes drastically, Del Rio likely will not see the field again this season. Appleby provided a spark to the Florida offense that it desperately needed and if he can replicate that against LSU, the Gators will be in good shape.
WIN #2: Freshmen stepping up
With so many injuries depleting Florida’s starters, several freshmen and redshirt freshmen had to step up in those spots. David Reese and Kylan Johnson replaced both of Florida’s star linebackers and leading tacklers, Anzalone and Davis. The freshmen handled their new starting roles like seniors. Reese led the Gators with 11 tackles and 0.5 tackles-for-loss and Johnson was just behind with seven total tackles and one for loss. Third-string center McCoy also handled himself well in place of Jordan when he went down with an injury early in the game. Besides one small miscue on a snap, McCoy took over a leadership role on the offensive line and looked like he had been there all season.
Florida has had several freshmen step up into big roles this season, especially on offense. Lamical Perine, Tyrie Cleveland, Josh Hammond, Freddie Swain, and Jawaan Taylor have all been valuable to the Gators’ offense this season. The young talent on Florida’s offense has the future looking very bright. Florida’s experienced defense hasn’t opened up too many opportunities for freshmen this season, but the performances of Reese and Johnson proved there is talent ready to come in the replace a large percentage of the defense next season.
WIN #3: Offensive line
The Gators were down three starters on the offensive line, with Dillard, Jordan, and Sharpe all injured. As mentioned before, McCoy replaced arguably to most valuable player on the offensive line and looked comfortable doing it. Sophomore left guard Martez Ivey slid over to tackle when Sharpe went down and that opened up the door for redshirt sophomore Kevaris Harkless to come in and play a majority of the snaps at guard. The offensive line gave Appleby a clean pocket and plenty of time for a majority of the game. Appleby was sacked just once against a Muschamp defense. The Gators had averaged just 1.8 yards per rush in the previous two games, but picked that number up to 4.6 against the Gamecocks. Leading rusher Jordan Scarlett had a career game, with 134 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
Both Appleby and Scarlett credited their performances to the play of the offensive line. The offensive line has taken a lot of criticism, but it is much improved from last season and even from the start of this season. After being dead last in sacks allowed a year ago, Florida is now 25th in the country and second in the SEC with just 13 sacks allowed this season.