The South Carolina Gamecocks are reeling right now. Their last victory was against Furman in October. The Gamecocks haven’t beaten an FBS opponent since September. Head coach Steve Spurrier has never had a worse season at South Carolina. The team has lost three games that they held two-touchdown leads in the fourth quarter. The road doesn’t get any easier though. The Gamecocks travel to The Swamp on Saturday to face Spurrier’s old team, the Florida Gators.
The last two trips to The Swamp had SEC East implications for the Gamecocks. Now the Gamecocks are merely trying to win three SEC games and crawl towards being eligible for a bowl game. South Carolina (4-5, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) faces a much improved Florida (5-3,4-3) that has already exceeded its win total from 2013.
The Gators always have solid defenses, but they’ve been unable to consistently move the ball since Tim Tebow‘s departure for the NFL. Jeff Driskel was highly regarded as a pocket passer early in his career, but his play never lived up to the hype. He has since been benched by mobile freshman Treon Harris. Harris has given the Gators another dimension to the offense and led an upset over the Georgia Bulldogs.
What does South Carolina have to do to beat the Gators? Its defense has to start pulling some of the weight, and the offense needs to stay on the field at critical points during the game. South Carolina’s defense has been atrocious, allowing 34 points per game, in what could easily be defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward’s last year in Columbia. Ward hasn’t figured out how to stop the run at all, and the defense was shredded by dual-threat quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
The defense is likely going to be as porous as always against a Florida team that can run the ball as well as any in the country. The offense is going to have to carry the team once again. It’s a role the offense has been forced to accept, and it’s worn on some of the players.
South Carolina RB Brandon Wilds: "If we score every drive, we shouldn’t have a problem." Tough way to live.
— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) November 11, 2014
Senior Dylan Thompson has led an offense that averages 35 points per game, but the unit has sputtered late in games. South Carolina puts points up on the board, but the offense lacks the poise it did last year. The Gamecocks have failed to close out three SEC games with Thompson and company going three-and-out late with the game on the line. The offensive players feel as though they have to score every drive, and that pressure gets to them late in the game and they choke.
The 2014 season has been an ugly one for the Gamecocks, and a lot needs to happen for something good to come out of Saturday’s game. The defense needs to get off the field once in a blue moon, and the offense needs to actually control the tempo of the game in addition to putting up points. If the Gamecocks can play four solid quarters, there’s a chance. Pull another Carolina, and it’ll be another long year for the Gamecock faithful…
This article South Carolina Gamecocks: Spurrier vs. UF appeared first on isportsweb by Chris Edel