Reeling Gamecocks, Rattled Gators: Homecoming Comes With a Fix List

Florida gets a week to show its first loss was a stumble and not the start of a slide. The homecoming opponent is a South Carolina team that is reeling even worse.

The Gators (4-1, 2-1 SEC) host the Gamecocks on Saturday, Oct. 10, after Missouri ran them off the field in Columbia. South Carolina (2-3, 0-3 SEC) is coming off a 35-34 overtime loss to No. 24 Kentucky. The Gamecocks led 17-0 early in the second quarter, and Kentucky won it with a 2-point pass in overtime, according to UK Athletics and the Lexington Herald-Leader's Kentucky.com.

On3's South Carolina site went further, writing that the loss "might be the breaking point for Shane Beamer at South Carolina." That is On3's opinion, not a reported decision, but it sums up the mood in Columbia, S.C.

Kickoff is set for 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network, the SEC announced Sunday, per floridagators.com. The loss cost Florida eight spots in the AP poll released Sunday, from No. 8 to No. 16, according to ESPN. Missouri climbed from No. 25 to No. 14.

Fix No. 1: Get Baugh room to run

Florida came to Missouri averaging 260 rushing yards a game and 5.9 yards a carry, per floridagators.com. It left with 42 yards on 25 carries, 1.7 a carry, per ESPN.

Jadan Baugh, the nation's second-leading rusher going in, ran 12 times for 13 yards. Per AP, after a 12-yard first carry he "carried 11 more times for exactly one yard." Missouri finished with 11 tackles for loss and three sacks.

"At the end of the day, running or passing, we've got to be able to move the ball down the field, and that's on me," quarterback Aaron Philo said, according to the Gainesville Sun.

Fix No. 2: Stop the run

The other side of the line of scrimmage was just as bad. Missouri ran 36 times for 220 yards (6.1 a carry) and three touchdowns. Jamal Roberts did most of it with 211 yards on 24 carries, including a 77-yard run to set up one score and an 80-yard touchdown run.

By GatorBait's count from UF's season totals, Florida allowed 412 rushing yards in its first four games combined. Missouri got more than half that in one afternoon.

"As a defense, sometimes the offense needs to lean on us," linebacker Myles Graham said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. "We can't always depend on them to put up 40, 50 points a game. Sometimes we got to keep us in the game. I take full accountability."

Fix No. 3: Talk in the secondary

Missouri's Austin Simmons completed 23 of 30 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Florida was caught flat-footed on the first one, a 47-yarder to Donovan Olugbode, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Defensive backs Ben Hanks III and Drake Stubbs looked to the sideline for a play call as Olugbode sprinted past them, according to the Sentinel.

Depth is part of the problem. Safety Bryce Thornton was lost to an injury during pregame warmups, per floridagators.com. Lagonza Hayward started in the secondary and finished with six tackles.

Clean it up

Florida was flagged eight times for 80 yards, including three 15-yard fouls: two personal fouls and an unsportsmanlike conduct. One of them, a personal foul on Aaron Chiles, moved Missouri from the Florida 34 to the 19 on its opening touchdown drive of the second half. An illegal formation wiped out a 21-yard catch, per ESPN and UF play-by-play. Florida has been flagged 43 times for 437 yards this season, per floridagators.com.

There was one bright spot. Backup Tramell Jones Jr. completed all five of his passes for 86 yards, and the last of those was a 42-yard touchdown to TJ Abrams that finished a 94-yard drive.

The bigger picture

The road only gets harder after this one: a trip to Texas, a bye and Georgia in Atlanta, as GatorBait's Reality Check laid out.

That makes this week a measuring stick. A struggling Gamecocks team is a chance for Florida to rebuild a run game and a run defense that Missouri exposed, and to do it in front of a homecoming crowd.

South Carolina visits Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play (event 401856708); floridagators.com box score, cumulative statistics and Quick Slant; Associated Press via ESPN; Orlando Sentinel (Edgar Thompson); Gainesville Sun (Kevin Brockway); UK Athletics; ESPN AP Top 25 (Week 6); Kentucky.com; On3.