GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida came into Saturday needing a response after last week’s 28-point loss to Missouri. South Carolina, sitting at 0-3 in SEC play and led by a head coach who seemed to be on his way out, looked like the kind of opponent that could help steady things.
That never happened.
Instead, the Gators were the ones that played like the team in free fall, falling 38-19 to South Carolina for their second straight loss. Florida never found much rhythm on offense, had trouble getting off the field on defense and spent most of the afternoon chasing the game.
The Gators’ ground game was limited to 120 yards, with Jadan Baugh held to 59. The passing game never really stretched South Carolina, and Vernell Brown III sat out again with a knee injury. Florida got one early burst when Aaron Philo hit Bailey Stockton for a 59-yard touchdown on the second drive, but that was about as good as it got for the offense.
From there, Florida managed only 12 points and 321 yards over its next 10 drives after that score. Philo finished 21-for-28 for 227 yards with one touchdown, one interception and two fumbles, including one recovered by South Carolina.
The Gators did not reach the end zone again until Baugh scored on a two-yard run with 1:01 left. By then, Florida had already settled for a pair of Patrick Durkin field goals, and the two-point attempt after Baugh’s late touchdown failed.
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers dictated the game for most of the afternoon, finishing with 279 passing yards and four touchdowns while completing 66 percent of his throws. He tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter with a 15-yard touchdown to Nyck Harbor on third down, then put the Gamecocks ahead 17-10 in the second quarter with a touchdown to Mazeo Bennett Jr. after a Philo interception.
Sellers kept piling it on after halftime. He connected with Donovan Murph for 26 yards early in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 11 after Florida opened the half with a field goal, then found the end zone again on a one-yard score with 1:08 left in the third to make it 31-13.
Florida’s best chance to claw back came early in the fourth quarter, when it drove into the red zone. But Dylan Stewart forced a fumble on a Philo run, and South Carolina recovered at the 16-yard line. Any lingering hope disappeared on the next key sequence, when Florida turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass at the South Carolina 27.
Sellers finished the job with a 21-yard touchdown to Lex Cyrus with 8:07 remaining. South Carolina added one more turnover for good measure, intercepting a Tramell Jones Jr. pass after an Evan Chieca drop.
Florida is now 4-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play and is likely to drop out of the AP top 25 after the loss. The Gators head to No.
1 Texas next week before a bye week and then a matchup with No. 2 Georgia.
In Other News...
Florida's Fast Start Just Turned Into A Real Early Warning
Floridas promising start took a sharp turn in Gainesville on Saturday, and the mood around Ben Hill Griffin Stadium changed quickly as South Carolina rolled to a 38-19 win. Bailey Stocktons early touchdown reception briefly gave the Gators something to build on, but the Gamecocks answered with multiple scoring drives and controlled the game well enough to snap an eight-game road losing streak in SEC play.
The loss pushed Florida out of the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll and left Jon Sumrall visibly frustrated with the way his team performed. It also raises the stakes for what comes next, because the Gators now head to Austin to face Texas with a lot more to fix than just the final score. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Is Slipping And The Georgia Stakes Keep Growing
Floridas slide has become harder to ignore as the SEC calendar tightens, and the latest power rankings only sharpen the picture around Gainesville. With Georgia still sitting at the top of the league and the rest of the conference sorting itself out heading into Week 7, every result around Florida carries more weight now than it did a month ago. The Gators are not just trying to steady themselves, they are trying to avoid getting buried in a conference race where even the middle tier is starting to separate.
Georgias ongoing standard at the top keeps raising the bar for everybody else, but it also keeps the spotlight on Floridas place in the pecking order. The rankings reflect a league where recent results are reshaping the outlook every week, and for the Gators, the stakes keep climbing because the margin for error keeps shrinking. What happens next will matter not only for the standings, but for any broader playoff conversation tied to who can survive the SEC grind. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Sumrall Had A Blunt Response To Florida Pressure Talk
After back-to-back losses, Florida fans started wondering whether Jon Sumrall had been reined in by the administration, a familiar kind of chatter whenever a season starts to wobble. Sumrall pushed back on that idea while addressing the speculation, framing the issue less as outside pressure and more as the natural shift that comes when a team is trying to stop a skid.
The Florida coach said hes comfortable being himself around the people running the program, including Duke Warner, Scott Stricklin and UF president Stewart Bell, and he made it clear the changes he makes are tied to the teams performance rather than any directive from above. With the Gators heading to Texas in Week 7, the broader question is whether Florida can steady itself before the noise around the program gets any louder. [Read more 🡒]