The Florida Gators have officially wrapped up the SEC East and have punched their tickets to the SEC Championship, but that does not mean they are done competing in the regular season. The Gators simply cannot afford to look ahead after the struggled early against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Their offense still has some issues ahead of them as the College Football Playoffs are not yet out of the question. The South Carolina Gamecocks will look to halt that from happening on Saturday.
The Gators still have a tough road ahead highlighted by the matchup against Florida State. Then there will be the SEC Championship game that will feature either Alabama or LSU. The College Football Playoffs are still an uphill climb as the Gators have some offensive issues to figure out. The team might have beat Vanderbilt, but no one feels good about the 9-7 win. The team ran for just 93 yards which was a season low as they acquired just 258 yards of offense including four turnovers. Getting back on track against a much weaker South Carolina team could help.
The Gamecocks have one of the worst run defenses in the SEC as they have given up 17 touchdowns on the ground while opponents are averaging 5.2 yards per carry. They are allowing 208.3 rushing yards per game as they also rank near the bottom with 428.0 yards of total offense from opponents who are averaging at least 27.3 points per game. Sitting at 1-6 in the conference, the Gamecocks are not having the season they were hoping to have. They have lost four games on the round while dropping four of their last five games total.
One piece of hope for the Gamecocks is their overall record against Florida. South Carolina always seems to turn things up against the Gators as they are 4-1 over the past five years. They have two straight wins against Florida as head coach Steve Spurrier traditionally played his former team very well. Florida will be missing Jonathan Bullard, Keanu Neal and Joey Ivie which means the Gamecocks' offense could get a break against a weakened defense. South Carolina will have to play their best game if they intend to upset the Gators on Saturday.
