South Carolina Football 3 Keys: Florida

Three-keys-USC

A battle of two teams sitting at 4-4 will take place in Columbia, SC, on Saturday as the Florida Gators visit the South Carolina Gamecocks. Here are the three keys to a Gamecock win.

By Steve Wright

1 – Work out the run game

The South Carolina running game might be the most confusing in the country. The talent is clearly there – it is talent that has even performed at the college level in the past – but that talent isn’t producing any kind of results. The Gamecocks have been held below 100 yards rushing in five of their last seven games, something that just doesn’t make sense. Florida has a good defense overall – and the run D has been solid in general – but LSU showed how to exploit this group and Georgia did Georgia things against them too. Given the quarterback issues, South Carolina has to be able to move the ball on the ground.

2 – Stop the run

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. If the Gators get up near that number it is hard to see how South Carolina pulls this out.

3 – South Carolina must take the ball away

Both of these teams have turnover issues and for the Gators it has led to a drop that has seen them lose three of four and four of six. It has been worse in bigger games too, with four against LSU and three against Georgia. South Carolina has leveled out a little after being a takeaway machine earlier in the season – and the Gamecocks give it up too much themselves too – but if they can be +2 or even +3 in turnover margin then who knows how this will shake out.

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