Rapid Reaction to Florida's 41-39 win at South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Gators snapped their losing streak on the road Saturday with a 41-39 comeback win over South Carolina. Florida (5-2, 3-1 SEC) rallied in the fourth quarter with two touchdown drives to overcome a 10-point deficit.
UF redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz and senior receiver Ricky Pearsall both had the best performances of their college careers in Columbia. Mertz threw for a career-high 423 yards and three touchdowns. Pearsall caught the game-winning score and set career highs for receptions (10) and receiving yards (166).
Florida’s defense gave up 465 yards to the Gamecocks (2-4, 1-3 SEC), including 313 yards through the air to senior quarterback Spencer Rattler. But when the Gators needed a stop, they forced a punt to set up the go-ahead touchdown and then picked off Rattler on South Carolina’s final drive.
In the video above, Gators Online shares our rapid reaction from Williams-Brice Stadium to Florida’s win over the Gamecocks.
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Billy Napier opening statement
“We got a group of kids, we’ve got a staff that goes about their business the right way. It’s a fun group to coach. It’s fun to come to work every day. We’ve been through some battles. I think sometimes those tough things that you go through in life and I think the game of football resembles life as much as anything. It prepares you for something that’s ahead. I think the character of this group, their ability to kind of sort through winning and losing, to look each other in the eye, to have some integrity, to take ownership of things we can do better at the player level, at the staff level. We’ve struggled on the road and certainly tonight was one heck of a football game. But I do think some of the toughness that we’ve built, some of the resolve that we’ve built, some of the relationships, this group has done nothing but get closer. I think it’s almost galvanized the group and we came here today to prove something. What a way to win a football game.
“Lot of credit to South Carolina. Their team showed up and competed. I thought, in particular, on offense they did a lot of great things, caused issues for us and, look, we needed every play all the way down to the end to find a way to win it. There was a lot of situational football today. I’m just really proud of the team’s resolve. There’s a lot of times out there tonight where they could have folded their cards and we didn’t do that. Some incredible play, some incredible extra-effort plays. Hats off to South Carolina, what a football game, what a venue. Certainly, proud of our team and the character that they showed. That’s a good way to go into an open date, that’s what I would tell you. We’re going to enjoy this thing but it’s important that we keep our humility. We have lots to do to improve as a team. Individual players can improve, parts of our staff can improve and we need to play better going forward, there are definitely things that we can get better at.”
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