5 keys to a Gamecock Win vs. the Florida Gators

2. SC needs to keep the score close in the 1st half — For the third straight game, USC fell behind by double digits in the first half. The stretch began three weeks ago when the Gamecocks trailed, 17-0, to Vanderbilt in the first quarter. It continued in Knoxville two weeks ago when Tennessee led, 21-0, at halftime. Finally, Arkansas jumped out to a 21-3 lead before the end of the first quarter last Saturday night in Fayetteville. Florida has outscored its opponents 209-88 in the first half, including 35-7 last week in its 49-22 win against Vanderbilt.
Before this streak, USC had outscored all but one of its first seven foes in the first half. The exception was No. 2 LSU, which led 21-7 at halftime. After outscoring its first seven opponents 110-68 in the first half, USC has been outscored 66-16 in the first half during its last three games. There is no obvious theme among the first half to the last three games, although the Gamecocks were 4-for-20 on third down conversions with four turnovers that opponents converted into 24 points. How about for a change USC dictates from the start the flow of the game no more playing from behind.

3. SC Run Defense has to be ready, even if it is the QB —Yes, Tebow is a great passer and has great receivers but we have to respect the run. Running quarterbacks have given the Gamecocks fits all year, beginning with the Cajun QB for Louisiana-Lafayette who went for 116 yards in the opener and continuing through LSU’s Ryan Perrilloux, another slippery runner from the Bayou who had eight carries for 59 yards in part-time duty. Tebow has carried the ball 144 times this season, an average of 16 times per game, for a team-leading 598 yards. The second-leading rusher for the Gators (K. Moore) has rushed just 87 times. Despite his well-deserved reputation as a bruising runner, the 6-foot-3 Tebow throws the ball fairly accurately too. He’s completed nearly 68 percent of his passes this season for 2,228 yards. Tebow can be dangerous as can another of the SEC’s top offensive threats – Gators receiver Percy Harvin, who against Vanderbilt became the first player in Florida history to have 100 yards rushing and receiving.

5. SC must do the “little things”— I mean factors you can’t quantify like intelligence, awareness, hustle and scrappiness. We need to tackle, our defense needs to get off their blocks quicker and knock passes down. Spurrier railed on the fact that USC often doesn’t play smart. In his words, they make too many “dumb plays.” Often, who recovers a fumble is the one who hustled the most. Here’s a telling statistic – USC’s opponents have fumbled 16 times this season. The Gamecocks have recovered five of them. That’s less than one-third. That percentage must increase. Recovering a fumble is mostly a matter of awareness, hustle and aggressiveness. Clearly, USC must improve in all of those areas. They won’t become a great team until they do.