Late fourth downs, poor situational defense doom South Carolina

South Carolina’s defense hadn’t been good through the first three quarters against Florida. But it looked like it largely wasn’t going to matter in the grand scheme.

The Gamecocks were up 10 points and Florida was facing a fourth and 11 near midfield. A stop and South Carolina’s win percentage skyrockets. 

Instead, Graham Mertz flips a pass to Arlis Boardingham in the flat who breaks a tackle and scampers for 14 yards and a first down. 

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It was one of three fourth downs Florida converted Saturday night. And the Gamecocks failed in situational football to blow a 10-point lead in a 41-39 loss. 

“Two of those on the final two drives where we’re off the field and one of those the game is absolutely over. We bring pressure and because of the pressure, he has to get rid of the ball quick,” Shane Beamer said. “We had a flat player in coverage and should be off the field and we didn’t get it done. Disappointed in situational football.”

Florida would convert yet another fourth down on that drive en route to a touchdown. The Gators would then get the ball back with 2:43 left down three. They would drive down the field again thanks to another fourth down conversion. 

Facing fourth and 10 with no timeouts remaining–a stop and South Carolina wins the game–Mertz evaded pressure while finding an open Ricky Pearsall for a 26-yard gain into South Carolina territory. 

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The Gamecocks allowed the eventual game-winning score five plays later with Mertz connecting again with Pearsall for a 21-yard touchdown. 

“I would say it’s just demoralizing. We come in the building every day to do extra meeting time on our own and meet with our coaches,” Tyreek Johnson said. “We spend a lot of time trying to perfect our craft and get better at the things we need to get better at. To come in and put in all that work and have it slip out of your hands, we had a 10-point lead over them and let it slip.” 

South Carolina failed in situational football–third and fourth down especially–with Florida able to take full advantage. The Gamecocks allowed Florida to go 4-for-8 on third downs in the first half.

The Gators struggled on third down in the second half–a paltry 0-for-7–but they went 3-for-4 on fourth down with all three coming in the frenzied comeback. 

Florida entered the day last in the SEC in third-and-fourth down success rate (35.1 percent). The Gatos ultimately went 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) Saturday.

Getting one of those three fourth downs to go the other way and it very easily could have been South Carolina winning the game. 

“We have to make a play. We’re one play away. Every game it’s been one play away. We should be undefeated,” Debo Williams said. “That’s how I feel. Would’ve, should’ve, could’ve. We just have to make a play.” 

It was the same story for South Carolina defensively, which also struggled to stop much of anything. Florida averaged 6.1 yards per play, a sack-adjusted 3.1 yards per rush while Mertz went 30-for-48 for 423 yards (8.8 yards/attempt) and three touchdowns. 

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South Carolina sacked him four times while piling up eight tackles for loss. But those numbers could have easily been higher given the amount of pressure Clayton White was dialing up. 

The Gamecocks couldn’t get home–or couldn’t run the proper play–and the results showed. 

“The main problem, we call pressures and we don’t run them. We play man coverage and didn’t do a great job of keeping leverage. In the first half alone we ran a pressure where the corner came and for some reason, he stopped. We gave up an explosive pass because we didn’t continue to run the pressure. Had another pressure called where we didn’t run it in the first half,” Beamer said. 

“We just did not play clean football. At the end of the day, we had some calls where we had some perfect calls. We ran an edge pressure. If someone said, ‘Hey, a team is getting ready to run a reverse, what would be the perfect call?’ You would bring both people off the edge. We did it. We had a perfect call sometimes and their guy made the play and we didn’t.”

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Florida ultimately had 12 big plays with nine passes of at least 18 yards and three rushes of at least 12. 

“Executing the call. Knowing what you’re doing and executing the call,” Williams said. “It’s that simple. Coach White is going to put us in the right spot. Execute the call to the best of your ability.”

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