'It's a player thing': Stockton, Sumrall and Chiles after South Carolina loss

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bailey Stockton caught 8 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown Saturday. He wanted no part of talking about it.

"I don't really care about that. I could have zero catches. I just want to win, to be honest with you," Stockton said after South Carolina's 38-19 win over No. 16 Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the Gators' second straight loss.

Stockton, Jon Sumrall and linebacker Aaron Chiles all pointed in the same direction afterward: at the players and at the practice week.

"It's a player thing"

"You know, me personally, I think it's a player thing right now. I don't think it has anything to do with the coaches," Stockton said. "Coaches put us in a great position all the time, and we're just not all 11 doing what we need to do."

Stockton said the fix starts on Tuesday. "I think it starts with practice habits. Tuesday practices and Wednesday practices are big for us. Even the walk-throughs. I just think we need to be more intentional with it."

On the red zone, where Florida lost a fumble at the South Carolina 13 and settled for a field goal at the 3: "When you get in the red zone, you've got to capitalize and you've got to get 6 on the board. It starts with taking care of the ball and we've just got to get better."

Stockton also said he was knocked out on his earlier injury and is still banged up. "I'm banged up, but the team needs to win. We've got to win."

Sumrall: "It starts with me"

Sumrall opened his news conference this way: "Disappointing football today by us. No excuse for it. Not many words that are going to make any of it right. We have to go back to work and improve. I'm frustrated with every part of what we did today. It starts with me."

He pointed to the turnover margin. "Today we're minus 3 in the turnover margin. It's going to be hard to win in this league doing that."

And to third down, where South Carolina converted 10 of 16 by ESPN's count: "The third and longs are the troublesome ones."

Sumrall said he has wondered whether the Gators are wearing down in second halves. "I do think we've looked a little bit worn down in the second half. I would completely agree. I think we've looked maybe a little sluggish, a little slow, and not maybe as strong as we need to be to finish the right way." He said the staff cut practice length a little this week.

On kicking the field goal on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter: "Just wanted to get points. We had two plays inside the 5 and felt like we ran into a wall a little bit on both of them."

Injury notes

Vernell Brown III: Sumrall said the receiver was a "game time decision-ish" who practiced Friday but "just didn't feel like he was capable of doing with confidence" Saturday morning. "I think he's closer, hopefully."

Duke Clark: "Duke, looks like he's got an ankle. We'll know more early in the week. Not sure how severe yet, but it was substantial enough that he couldn't return today."

Myles Graham: Sumrall said the linebacker had "a little bit of a cramping type issue" coming out of the halftime lightning delay, got fluids and was available before the defense took the field.

Chiles: "Losing confidence just isn't an option"

Chiles said Dallas Wilson spoke up in the locker room. "Basically, he said it's on the players. He said we can't blame the coaches."

"We've lost two games, man. I don't believe it's the end of the world," Chiles said. "A bowl game is not what we're looking for. We want to be in the playoffs. In order to do that, we've got to brush this off, understand our mistakes, fix them."

Next up is Texas. Florida (4-2, 2-2 SEC) plays at Texas on Saturday, Oct. 17, at noon ET. "It's a big test," Stockton said. "I think we're ready."

Quotes from the University of Florida's postgame transcripts (ASAP Sports). Stats from ESPN.

Game story: South Carolina beats No. 16 Florida 38-19