The South Carolina football team crushed SEC rival Florida over the weekend in what was the program’s most sizeable win over their conference rival in the history of the series. It was an unexpected result for most of the country and one that folks around Gainesville aren’t handling well.
Gator fans have been critical of Dan Mullen this week, though he’s blaming his team’s lowly performance issues other than his coaching. While Mullen has survived the heat for now, two of his assistants did not. Most notably, longtime defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was fired a day after the defeat as the Gator defense surrendered more than 450 yards to the Gamecocks.
Everyone around Gainesville is upset, and that includes former head coach Steve Spurrier, who also roamed the sidelines in Columbia during the early 2000s. The Head Ball Coach is the active leader in wins for both programs but he’s currently employed as an ambassador for the Gators. Here’s what he had to say about the 40-17 shellacking.
Steve Spurrier on @ESPNGainesville today: “That performance at South Carolina was embarrassing. We all know that.”
— Mike Gillespie (@MikeABCColumbia) November 9, 2021
It can definitely be defined as an embarrassment seeing that the Gators rolled into Williams-Brice Stadium as a three-touchdown favorite before falling flat in the 23-point defeat. Once considered a top 10 team, it marks the program’s third straight loss, two of which have been 20+ point blowouts.
The loss also dropped the Gators below .500 on the season and landed them a fifth-place spot in the Eastern division standings.
Jason Brown the future for South Carolina football?
While Spurrier certainly wasn’t pleased with the Gators’ performance, one key performer’s play didn’t come as a shock to the Head Ball Coach. In fact, he kind of predicted it earlier in the offseason.
After watching the Gamecocks’ Spring Game back in April, Spurrier noted that he believed quarterback Jason Brown would wind up starting under center before the year was over. Unfortunately for him, that prediction came to fruition on Saturday night.
Brown threw for 175 yards and a couple of scores to lead his team to its best offensive output of the season. Brown connected on 14 of 24 passes and appeared much more comfortable in the pocket than previous South Carolina signal callers. The Gamecocks scored on each of their five drives in the first half to jump out to a 30-10 lead and never looked back. The 40 points scored was the most for South Carolina in series history against the Gators.
Brown will again get the keys to the offense next weekend when the Gamecocks travel to Missouri. Shane Beamer is hoping that his quarterback can build upon this dominant debut and lead South Carolina to bowl eligibility.