Florida vs. South Carolina: Three Key Matchups to Monitor
Photo: Florida defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong; Credit: Alex Shepherd
On Saturday, the Gators will look to do something they've only done once in the Billy Napier era: win a game away from The Swamp.
Florida’s lone road win under its current head coach came against Texas A&M last November, behind a strong second-half performance. UF is 0-5 away from The Swamp since, with an 0-2 away record this season.
Facing a 2-3 South Carolina team and fresh off a dominant win over Vanderbilt, Saturday's matchup provides a tremendous opportunity for the Gators to break their trend of road losses.
Below are three key matchups between Florida and South Carolina that could determine the victor on Saturday.
Spencer Rattler vs. Florida's pass defense
A massive benefit for Florida entering the matchup is that Ray Davis is not on the opposing sideline. Statistically, South Carolina has the worst rushing attack in the SEC with only 87 yards a game on the ground.
The Gamecocks will rely on the arm of veteran quarterback Spencer Rattler, who is third in the SEC in completion percentage (73%) and the hands of Xavier Legette, who is eighth in the country in receiving yards (606).
Add Florida's struggles to defend the deep ball last week into the equation, and it wouldn't be a surprise if South Carolina airs it out and takes shots down the field, especially with a receiver like Legette running routes.
"The guy's a big, physical player who can get behind you and then win in close contact with a guy. He has a lot of play strength," Napier said about Legette on Wednesday. "This is a big man that presents a matchup issue if you have a guy who doesn't have a lot of play strength or balance."
With a pass-first offense comes plenty of opportunities for sacks. Rattler has been sacked 22 times through five games, good for the seventh-most in the country. 18 of those sacks have come from South Carolina's three losses, which includes nine given up against North Carolina to open the season and six against Tennessee in Week 5.
In those losses, Rattler still found a way to pick up big yardage through the air without turning the ball over too much. He only has three interceptions on the year and has thrown for over 250 yards in two of the Gamecocks' three losses.
That being said, those have come in large part due to a heavy reliance on the passing attack, but Rattler has undoubtedly taken advantage of his opportunities.
"I think he's got a pretty good idea big picture-wise, what's going on," Napier said. "Man, I thought the back half of the season last year he was outstanding, and he's kept that momentum. Really, he's distributing the ball for them."
Considering all of this, Florida will need to focus on shutting down Rattler and the passing attack. South Carolina has pretty much eliminated their rushing attack on their own. Allowing big plays in the air has hurt them previously, and that risk is evident this week.
Putting pressure on Rattler and forcing tough throws, similarly to what they did against Joe Milton III, should amount to a Gator win, as long as they don't hurt themselves in other areas.
Game Changers vs. Game Changers
South Carolina's only points in last season's 38-6 loss to Florida came via a special teams touchdown on a punt fake. Napier, as a result, is aware of how much each team's third-phase units can affect Saturday's outcomes.
"I think they're very good at what they do," Napier said. "I think all six parts of the kicking game, they use their good players, I think they've got a good, sound scheme and there's no doubt that you've got to be fake-conscious and obviously they've got some things that are unique that you have to prepare for but much like every week, you're trying to win that phase."
Florida's "Game Changers" cannot change the game negatively for them. It does seem as if the unit turned a corner against Vanderbilt. There were no major gaffs or inexcusable penalties.
Trey Smack continues to be a reliable leg for the Gators as he has yet to miss a kick this year (7-of-7), and Jeremy Crawshaw seemed to find his rhythm against the Commodores in the punt game.
Factoring in South Carolina's emphasis on special teams, Florida will need to be extra cognizant in that area and continue to avoid back-breaking, inexcusable mistakes.
Florida vs. an away atmosphere
There's no question that one of the biggest early issues in the Napier era has been the Gators' inability to win games on the road. Since the start of the 2022 season, Florida is 1-7 in games away from The Swamp.
Despite South Carolina being favored, this is an extremely winnable game for Florida. In fact, it may be their best chance for the Gators to secure a road victory the rest of the year — Florida plays No. 1 Georgia, one-loss Missouri and LSU in non-home games over its next six contests.
Florida did a better job of avoiding self-inflicted wounds last week at home against Vanderbilt. Can the Gators carry the showing over to an away atmosphere against a tougher opponent? Both of UF's road losses this year were directly impacted by self-inflicted errors.
"Every player will tell you it’s a different mentality when you go on the road," Napier said. "I love it. I’ve always been like, to me, it’s the ultimate challenge as a competitor is to go in. So, yeah, we’ve had our struggles. It goes back, ultimately, the quality of the football hasn’t been very good in those two occurrences this year. We have to play better football."
Special teams gaffes and untimely penalties cost the Gators at Utah. Missed tackles, among other issues, cost them at Kentucky. They cannot allow their own blunders to factor into another road game.
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