A battle of two teams sitting at 4-4 will take place in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday as the Florida Gators visit the South Carolina Gamecocks. Here are the three keys to a Florida victory.
By Steve Wright
1 – Run the ball
In terms of pure numbers there is only one state that seems to matter heading into this contest. South Carolina is 0-4 when giving up at least 184 yards on the ground and 4-0 in all other contests. There is every chance that this could be a problem against a Florida rushing attack that is one of the very best in the nation and rushes for almost 250 yards a game. When Florida runs the ball well it also takes away some of the other issues – specifically turnovers – so expect to see Florida pounding the rock on Saturday.
2 – Don’t turn it over
Turnovers have killed Florida in a slump that has seen the Gators lose three or four and four of six. The LSU game would have been winnable with any less than four turnovers, while the contest with Georgia got out of hand because of three bad turnovers. South Carolina has pedigree here – they were great at taking the ball away over the first half of the season – and if they find that spark again on defense this could be trickier than most expect.
3 – Quarterback destruction
Quarterback has been a massive issue for the Gamecocks in 2021. They have been using former grad assistant Zeb Noland in the role who stepped up and came out of football retirement to steady a sinking ship earlier in the season. Noland, however, had a procedure to clean up his meniscus in the week and that doesn’t sound like something to be played through. If he is out then senior transfer from FCS school St. Francis, Jason Brown, is next man up. Blitz after blitz should be fired his way early to see if Brown can handle the (massive) step up in class.
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