South Carolina struggles in big road loss to Florida

Florida jumped on South Carolina early Saturday and never let up, resulting in a big 38-6 loss for the Gamecocks. 

South Carolina was looking to win three straight road games in a row for the first time since 2011, but with the loss the Gamecocks fall to 6-4 (3-4 SEC) on the season. 

The Gators took advantage of a South Carolina team that couldn’t put anything together on either side of the ball for the majority of the game. 

Florida scored touchdowns on its first three drives of the game and ended the first quarter up 21-0. 

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Quarterback Anthony Richardson was responsible for the first two scores. The first came when he capped off a 14-play, 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run. The second came when he threw a beautiful 15-yard pass, just out of Nick Emmanwori’s reach, to Ricky Pearsall for a touchdown. 

Trevor Etienne, brother of former Clemson running back Travis Etienne, likely gave some Gamecock fans flashbacks with his 85-yard touchdown run just before the first quarter ended. 

Etienne hit a wide open hole on the right side of the line and breezed past all of South Carolina’s defense for the score. 

In the first quarter, Florida was averaging 9.5 yards per play and had already totaled 219 yards of offense. 

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The offensive show continued into the second quarter, and Florida ultimately ended the first half with 362 total yards of offense and averaging 9.1 yards per play.

Richardson ultimately ended the game with 112 passing yards and 96 rushing yards. Two Gators rushed for over 100 yards, with Montrell Johnson Jr. and Etienne rushing for 161 and 100 yards, respectfully.

While the Gators were firing on all cylinders offensively, they also were on defense too. South Carolina was forced to punt on each of its three drives in the first quarter. 

The Gamecocks only totaled 37 yards across 12 plays in the first quarter, securing a first down only twice. 

South Carolina’s defense finally was able to get some kind of a stop at the start of the second quarter when Florida had to settle for a 28-yard field goal.

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Marcus Satterfield’s Gamecock offense had just one full possession in the second quarter – and that was the sole scoring drive of the game. 

The drive had appeared to stall out, and the Gamecocks were lining up to punt on fourth down with under two minutes to go. In true Beamer Ball fashion, Kai Kroeger proceeded to drop back to pass and find a wide open Dakereon Joyner for a 48-yard touchdown pass.

The two-point conversion attempt after was unsuccessful.

The score cut Florida’s lead to 24-6 going into the half. At the time of the touchdown, Kroeger’s one pass tallied more yards than the 40 yards Spencer Rattler had compiled through the air at that point. 

Rattler finished the game 17-for-25 through the air with just 139 yards.

The offensive woes continued into the second half for South Carolina. The Gamecocks first three drives out of the half all ended in a lost fumble. 

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South Carolina’s defense was able to finally hold its own starting midway through the third quarter but Richardson extended the lead to 31-6 when he threw his second touchdown pass of the night to end a 17-yard drive that came from one of the Gamecocks’ fumbles.

In the third quarter, the Gators only totaled 49 yards of offense, averaging 2.9 yards per play. Clayton White’s defense also forced Florida to turn the ball over on downs and punt the ball in the third quarter, the first time either had happened in the game.

South Carolina’s offense was doing statistically worse in the second half than the first up until the final drive of the game. In all, South Carolina only had 237 yards per offense and averaged 4.7 yards per play.

The Gators were able to score one more time late in the fourth quarter, pushing the score to 38-6. Florida finished with 512 total yards of offense, the second most South Carolina has allowed this year.

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