Gators Running Over Gamecocks in First Half, Lead 24-6
The Florida Gators are imposing their will onto the South Carolina Gamecocks inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium through the first 30 minutes as they take a 24-6 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Gators honored 18 seniors pregame, including Ventrell Miller, O'Cyrus Torrence, Justin Shorter, Richard Gouraige, Trey Dean III, Nay'Quan Wright, Lorenzo Lingard, Trent Whittemore, Jordan Pouncey and others.
Prior to the contest, Florida's leading wide receiver this season, Justin Shorter, was ruled out for the second week in a row with a lingering hamstring injury. The only other questionable starter, starting left guard Ethan White, suited up to assume his usual role on the offensive line.
Thus far, Florida's near-complete performance — at least in the second half v has carried over to this contest, as the Gators are posting points in a hurry and have shut out the Gamecocks in the first half.
Florida opened the contest by picking up right where they left in week ten against Texas A&M, driving the ball down the field behind a balanced offensive attack. Despite two noticeable misses from quarterback Anthony Richardson to wide receiver Ricky Pearsall at the intermediate levels of the field, the signal caller bounced back with a perfect ball on an out route to Caleb Douglas on 3rd and long.
The true freshman — partaking in his first career start for the Gators, the first true freshman at wideout to do so since Kadarius Toney in 2017 against Kentucky — reeled in the ball for a 15-yard gain to move the chains.
From there, Florida moved the ball on the ground with Montrell Johnson, who reeled off runs of 22 and 9 yards to push the ball into the red zone for the first time today. Richardson took a QB sweep to the right pylon to notch the first score of the afternoon.
Following a three-and-out on the Gamecocks' first drive, Florida found success through the air to once again push the ball down the field. Another explosive by Douglas put Florida in enemy territory to set up an eventual 15-yard touchdown pass and catch from Richardson to Pearsall.
Pearsall lined up as an in-line H-back on the play before running a crosser to the back side of the formation. His route against the grain allowed Richardson to look back across the field for his leading available wideout, who was operating in one-on-one coverage by the defender.
The Gators quarterback put the ball right on the mark, allowing Pearsall to pick it off the head of Gamecocks defensive back Nick Emmanwori to give the Gators a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
The ensuing possession brought more points as Trevor Etienne split through a gaping hole created by Torrence and Austin Barber for an 85-yard run on the drive's second play. That extended the lead to 21-0 in the first quarter. Adam Mihalek added a field goal to make it 24-0 with 6:24 remaining.
Spencer Rattler and Co. attempted to answer but had little success as Florida continued the uptick in defensive production seen a week ago. The Gators' defense hasn't allowed a point from their opposition in the last 60 minutes of game time.
The special teams unit has, however, as they allowed punter Kai Kroger to find Dakereon Joyner on a fake punt pass for a 48-yard score with 1:52 remaining. That trimmed Florida's lead to 24-6, as UF forced a pass breakup on SCAR's two-point conversion attempt.
The Gators won the coin toss and elected to receive. South Carolina will receive the second-half kickoff looking to mount offensive production after just 112 yards in the first half.
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