Florida faces South Carolina with playoff hopes at stake

What Happened

Florida hosts South Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 10, trying to answer a 45–17 loss at Missouri before road games at Texas and Georgia sharpen the season’s stakes. No. 16 Florida enters at 4–1 overall and 2–1 in the SEC. South Carolina is 2–3, 0–3 in conference play and has lost eight straight SEC games, but its record leaves out two blown leads: 16 points against Mississippi State and 17 against Kentucky. Florida coach Jon Sumrall said Monday that South Carolina’s roster makes the records misleading. “You look at South Carolina on film, they’re as good talent-wise as anything we’ve seen this year by far,” Sumrall said. “They’re the best talent team that we have played today. And you look across their entire roster, offense, defense, and even the return game, man, they’ve got NFL guys everywhere. Like all over the tape. And so it’s gonna be a really formidable test because these guys, they got dudes.” South Carolina has players who can stress Florida at several spots, including quarterback LaNorris Sellers, receiver Nyck Harbor and edge rusher Dylan Stewart. The clearest reason the talent has not produced more wins is possession: the Gamecocks have turned the ball over eight times in five games and rank 130th nationally in turnover margin. That gives Florida a specific way to control the matchup. South Carolina has led in two of its losses; Florida can make those leads harder to build by winning the turnover battle. The Gators also have to account for running back Jadan Baugh, who gained 13 yards at Missouri. Florida has not said whether he will play. Kickoff is set for 12:45 p.m. ET at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville. Florida needs a cleaner response than the one it gave Missouri—and needs South Carolina’s talent to remain trapped behind its mistakes.

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