South Carolina Football: Quick hits after the loss to Florida

On a day that felt eerily similar to last season’s sleepy game against the Missouri Tigers, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team took on the Florida Gators at a less-than-full Williams-Brice Stadium.

Thankfully for the South Carolina football fans in attendance, the game did not resemble that ugly, low-scoring affair from last season.

Instead, the Gamecocks and Gators engaged in an offense-heavy shootout that saw eight scoring drives in just the 1st half. South Carolina football put up three touchdown drives, while the Gators scored two but also added three field goals (and one 2-point conversion). The two teams combined for over 500 yards of offense through the first two quarters.

The second half started with two field goals (one for each team), but then the teams traded punts before the fireworks continued. Both teams had multiple scoring drives and big plays, but the Gamecocks couldn’t prevail despite strong offensive efforts from Spencer Rattler, Mario Anderson, Xavier Legette, and the tight end duo of Josh Simon and Trey Knox.

The Carolina defense was abysmal most of the night, surrendering 41 points and over 500 yards (before the kneel downs). The production was too much to overcome as the Gamecocks lost and fell to 2-4 on the year. This was just Florida’s second win in their last 15 games away from Gainesville.

The play of the game for the Gamecocks came courtesy of USC running back Mario Anderson. When the Gamecocks desperately needed a touchdown in the 1st half, Anderson took a Spencer Rattler pass in the flat toward the goal line where he hurdled Florida safety Miguel Mitchell and galloped into the end zone for the touchdown.

The Gamecocks picked up a win earlier in the day when Dawn Staley and Zia Cooke knocked off Team Florida’s Jevon Kearse and Titus O’Neil in the Johnsonville Charity Cornhole Challenge. However, the Carolina defense let down the Gamecock offense and made it impossible for the football team to duplicate Staley and Cooke’s success.

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