Week 11: Florida at South Carolina

Steve Spurrier meets his old team for the third time since taking control at South Carolina. Two years ago, the Gamecocks stunned Florida 30–22 in Columbia, and last fall they came within a blocked field goal of making it two in a row over the mighty Gators.

Spurrier’s South Carolina teams have made a habit of playing well when not much is expected — the Gamecocks have won five games outright as an underdog in the past two-plus years — but it’s hard to envision a South Carolina victory this Saturday night. Florida has had some troubles on defense, but the Gators have been remarkable on offense for much of the season. When things are going well — as they were last week against Vanderbilt — Florida looks nearly unstoppable. The Gators stormed out to a 35–7 lead at the half against a Vanderbilt team that had given up more than two touchdowns only once in its first five SEC games. Tim Tebow might still be a bit banged up, but he was nearly flawless throwing the ball against the Commodores.

South Carolina is fresh off one of the worst defensive showings in school history. The Gamecocks were torched for 650 yards — including a stunning 542 on the ground — against a largely one-dimensional Arkansas team. The balanced Gator attack should have little trouble carving through the Carolina defense unless coordinator Tyrone Nix can figure out the Gamecocks’ woes in one short week.

South Carolina has been pretty strong on offense since its anemic 282-yard, six-point effort against Vanderbilt. In an overtime loss at Tennessee, the Gamecocks rolled up 501 yards (330 on the ground) and followed up with 489 yards and 36 points in the loss at Arkansas. In his first start since late September, senior quarterback Blake Mitchell completed 27-of-51 for 364 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. The previous week, in a relief role at Tennessee, he completed 31-of-45 for 290 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

South Carolina’s recent struggles — three-straight losses — have forced this team to reassess its goals. A legitimate threat to win the East about a month ago, the Gamecocks are now simply hoping to remain above the .500 mark.

Florida by 10