Florida’s slide hit another rough patch Saturday, and John Sumrall didn’t try to dress it up.
The Gators were blasted 38-19 by unranked South Carolina, dropping them to their second straight loss and leaving a familiar-looking mess behind. Florida turned it over three times, never found rhythm on the ground and finished with just 3.2 yards per carry. Against a defense that couldn’t get stops, the Gamecocks were free to dictate the day.
LaNorris Sellers was the biggest problem. South Carolina’s quarterback threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns, then added 39 yards rushing as Florida’s defense struggled to keep him contained.
Afterward, Sumrall was blunt about where his team stands. "I see us every day.
We are very much a work in progress. Even after the Ole Miss game, I was uneasy, Gators coach John Sumrall said.
"Two weeks ago today, we had nowhere near arrived. Now, we clearly haven't arrived the last two weeks because we've been exposed in a pretty substantial way."
He went even further in describing the bigger picture, saying "not a whole lot has changed" since the opening month of the season. "But I think sometimes, and I said this last week as well, sometimes when you're winning it masks maybe the things that are not going right or that you're not doing well. And I don't know that a whole lot has honestly changed."
The timing is unforgiving. Florida’s next two games are both on the road, first at Texas and then at Georgia. The schedule doesn’t give the Gators much breathing room, but there is at least a chance for an upset angle: Texas is coming off a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, and Georgia just survived a tough win over Alabama.
For Florida, the stakes only get bigger from here, and the next two weeks will go a long way toward shaping the postseason picture.
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