The Good, the Great and the Ugly from Florida's 38-6 Win vs. South Carolina

Analyzing the good, the great and the ugly from the Florida Gators 38-6 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Photo: Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr.; Credit: Alex Shepherd 

Whenever the Florida Gators walk out of a weekend with a victory, it feels wrong to align with the usual good, bad, ugly format that this series highlights.

Although certain aspects of the game could warrant the two negatives that the format brings, extending props to the Gators after their most complete performance of the season is justified.

As a result, All Gators once again calls an audible for this week's recap series to shine a light on the good, the great and the ugly from Florida's 38-6 win over South Carolina to earn bowl eligibility on Saturday.

Good: Florida's offense starts hot again

For the second week in a row, the Gators started with their hair on fire on the offensive end as quarterback Anthony Richardson and Co. rattled off 24 unanswered points through their first four possessions of the contest.

Utilizing a mixture of season-long fixtures on offense (Richardson, running back Montrell Johnson and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall) and emerging youthful talent (wide receiver Caleb Douglas) to work their way down the field on the first two drives, Florida had its way with the Gamecocks at all three levels of the defense.

Pairing that with an 85-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Trevor Etienne for the longest play from scrimmage for UF this season, the humming offensive attack proved to be both explosive and steady in week 11.

The fast start aided the Gators to over 500 yards of total offense, 374 yards on the ground and 38 points on the day.

It also perpetuates the idea that Napier's offense is starting to fully click at the SEC level despite previous concerns for its predictability and monotony at times. Richardson is continuing to grow more comfortable each week as the man behind center and is finding ways to grow exponentially in each contest.

As a result, Florida is playing its best football of the season on offense down the stretch of Napier's first season, as you'd hope for the building program.

If the production and efficiency remained beyond the first quarter, this topic would likely be discussed in the next headline. But, the success began to dwindle as Florida maintained their sizable lead throughout the remainder of the contest.

As a result, a more deserving aspect of the game earns the billing of great.

Great: Patrick Toney and his defense

Well, well, well. Look who we have here. If anyone would've told me two weeks ago I'd be writing about Patrick Toney's defense under the great section for the 2022 season; I would've probably scoffed in disbelief.

However, that's where we are, and for a good reason.

Following the departure of Brenton Cox Jr., Florida's defense has caught fire. Not saying it's necessarily a correlation — although there is a noticeable uptick in the defensive line's ability to create pressure on the quarterback over the past two weeks — more so an observation as to the production of the unit since his dismissal days before the Gators' trip to Texas A&M.

A major reason for that uptick in success comes from an increased win rate on the edges from Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr. and Princely Umanmielen and the increased usage of press man coverage across the board for Florida in passing situations.

In the middle, defensive tackle Desmond Watson's production has increased while senior linebackers Ventrell Miller and Amari Burney continue to produce quietly at career-high rates this season.

Having shutout opponents over the last six quarters of play and operating as one of the most opportunistic defenses in the nation at the moment with a plus-four turnover differential in the last two games, Florida is playing at a level many expected when Toney took over the reins of the unit this offseason.

If they can continue stacking these performances — especially in the final two matchups of 2022 against teams with mobile quarterbacks and stout rushing attacks — the Gators could be in good standing heading into the offseason to build on a solid finish to year one defensively.

Ugly: Special Teams

Florida's multi-year struggle on special teams continued on Saturday in a concerning fashion. It's well-documented that Napier and Co. had intentions to flip the phase of the game into a unit branded as "game-changers."

Unfortunately for Florida, that aspect of the Gators' play is changing the game negatively instead of positively.

That was the case against South Carolina.

While the other two phases of the game did enough to keep Florida well separated from the visiting SEC East foe, special teams put on arguably a season-worst performance in the 38-6 blowout victory.

To some regard, losing in that aspect of the game isn’t too dark of a stain on the résumé given the brand of football Shane Beamer has instilled in the third phase of the game for South Carolina, coined as Beamer ball. 

However, the most concerning part may be the fact that the Gators were specifically keen on how SCAR's third phase could affect the game. Napier even spoke about the necessity to be ready for all the tricks the Gamecocks' head coach had up his sleeve to steal possessions or even points from Florida prior to the contest.

But, the Gators still faltered. And Napier noticed.

"We made a handful of [special teams] errors tonight I think we can clean up," Napier said after the game. "Kicking game in particular, I thought was a little sloppy. But they’re good. They work hard at it. They invest time in it. They’ve got really good people adding that area of their team. They work at it, and they’re good at it. 

"We botched a field goal. They blocked a field goal. We gave up a fake punt for a touchdown. Those are the three plays I’m thinking about right off the top of my head.”

Most notably, just before halftime, Florida produced yet another half of scoreless football from their opposition. Patrick Toney's defense clicked on all cylinders and forced a 4th down just past midfield for the Gamecocks.

Calling a timeout to presumably set up for a potential fake, especially given the need for a spark after nearly 30 minutes of the SCAR offense sputtering, Napier and Co. seemed to at least be prepared on paper.

Getting the call that it seemed UF prepared for as punter Kai Kroger dropped back for his third passing attempt of the year, the execution in that area — or lack thereof — led South Carolina to connect on a 48-yard touchdown to Dakereon Joyner with under two minutes remaining.

That lone play took away the possibility for a surging Florida squad to earn its first shutout of the Napier era after that reality did not seem possible in the first nine games of the year.

The special team's woes proceeded in the second half as the kicking unit failed twice to extend Florida's lead with field goals after a turnover set up UF deep in enemy territory. Allowing a block off the edge on the first and a fumbling a hold on the second, Florida allowed a 12-point swing on special teams.

That added to a fumble by punt returner Xzavier Henderson that resulted in Pearsall stepping in to assume return duties for the remainder of the game.

The miscues present the need for a significant change. 

However, the unit isn't likely to see significant improvement before the regular season reaches its end. Over the next two contests — and in the eventual bowl game — the Gators will simply need to mitigate the damage caused by the group synonymous with its errors. 

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