Saturday, October 19, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. — With a Saturday night game last week at LSU, the Florida Gators had all morning and most of the afternoon to kick back in their hotel rooms. Many a UF player (and surely coach) was tuned in as South Carolina, a three-touchdown underdog, stared down Georgia on the road and, ultimately, stunned the No. 3 Bulldogs 20-17 in double overtime.
It was the best thing that could have happened for the Gators, and not so much because of the overall result, but more so how the game played out.
And when.
As in one week before facing the Gamecocks.
After watching USC's takedown last week, and no doubt reviewing it the last six days, there should be little danger of the No. 9 Gators (6-1, 3-1) being anything but on edge and mentally locked into the challenge that awaits them in facing the Gamecocks (3-3, 2-2) Saturday afternoon at always-lively Williams-Brice Stadium. If South Carolina can go on the road and beat a formidable foe like Georgia — by forcing four turnovers and holding a high-powered offense to just 17 points, no less — the Gamecocks can certainly do the same to a surging program like Florida on their homefield.
[Read senior writer Scott Carter's comprehensive "Opening Kickoff setup here]
During the game, the Gamecocks lost starting quarterback Ryan Hilinski to a knee injury in the third quarter. Hilinkski, the true freshman did not return, but redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner stepped in and did enough to navigate the final period-plus-overtime, which included a first-possession interception and second-possession missed chip shot field by the Dogs to cost them the game.
On Sunday night, USC coach Will Muschamp announced that Hilinski (63 percent, 1,028 yards, 6 TDs, 3 INTs) had suffered only a sprain and was expected to play against UF. How much? Who knows, but expect to see a dash of Joyner (54 percent, 124 yards, 0 TDs or INTs) at the very least.
South carolina freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski injured his knee in last week's road upset win at Georgia.
The Gamecocks will come in with an offense ranked 10th in the SEC and 71st in the country at 409.8 yards per game and eighth/72nd in scoring at 28.8 points a game. Tailback Nico Dowdle is their top ground-gainer with 449 yards and four touchdowns rushing, while wideout Bryan Edwards leads the receivers corps with 33 catches, 426 yards and four touchdowns.
It's an offense, frankly, that won't much resemble the runaway train the Gators faced last week at LSU, where the Tigers shredded a top-10 national defense for 511 yards, including 218 on the ground, in handing UF a 42-28 loss.
Florida was somewhat handicapped in that one, forced to play most of the game without outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard and defensive end Jabari Zuniga, the unit's two best pass-rushers, both of whom left the game with high ankle sprains. As such, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow wasn't sacked and threw just there incompletions on 24 attempts. Against USC, Greenard and Zuniga will be game-time decisions.
The UF defense fell from ninth to 20th overall (309.9 yards per game) after last week.
Offensively, the Gators were awfully solid in the near-impossible surroundings at "Death Valley," as quarterback Kyle Trask threw for a career-best 310 yards and three touchdowns. The Florida ground game had its best outing in SEC play (146 yards), thanks to a boost from quarterback Emory Jones, who popped in situationally for Trask. Wideout Van Jefferson caught eight passes for 73 yards and touchdowns, while tight end Kyle Pitts had five receptions for a career-high 108 yards.
The Gators will bring the league's No. 6 offense (432.0 yards per game) into the game.
As Coach Dan Mullen pointed out Monday, the results of last weekend really didn't impact the big picture for his football team. A loss to a SEC West Division foe matter much in any head-to-head, tiebreaking match of cards when it comes to determining the champion out of the East. UF's next four games will be against East Division opponents, three of them away from home.
Starting with this one.
And it's the most important one because it's the next one.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN, with crew of Dave Pasch on play-by-play, Greg McElroy providing analysis, and Tom Luginbill working the sidelines. The game will be rebroadcast Sunday at 12:30 on SEC Network, Monday at 1 a.m. on ESPN@ and noon on ESPNU, then against Wednesday at noon on SEC Network.
Finally, follow senior staff writers Scott Carter and Chris Harry on Twitter (@GatorsScott and @GatorsChris) for commentary and analysis throughout the game. FloridaGators.com will have complete coverage content from the game Saturday night and fresh content Sunday, as well.
