Florida Gators Survive Late Gamecocks Rally in 38-24 Victory Over South Carolina

An up-and-down day leads to a close Florida Gators victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday in its home opener.

The No. 3 Florida Gators will remain undefeated after a 38-24 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks by way of four Gators QB Kyle Trask touchdown tosses, who became the first SEC quarterback since Tim Couch in 1998 to score 10 or more touchdowns through the first two games of the season.

Through three quarters it looked as if Florida would be coming away with an easy victory after an up-and-down day by the Gators defense, however, the Gamecocks would make it interesting in the fourth, scoring 10 unanswered points to bring the game within 14 points.

At one point, the Gators led South Carolina 38-14 in what looked to be shaping up as a blowout victory for the team's first home game of the season. Ultimately, it would become much closer as South Carolina drew close to cutting the lead to within seven. 

Ultimately, incredibly shaky clock management by South Carolina's Will Muschamp would enable the Gators to take over on downs with just 55 seconds remaining following an incomplete pass by South Carolina QB Collin Hill who had receiver Shi Smith wide open only a few yards out near the goal line.

The Gamecocks began the drive with 8:11 left on the clock, ultimately taking up 7:13 on the drive to end with a simple turnover on downs.

On offense, the Gators looked solid, but nowhere near as impressive as they did against Ole Miss last week, with Trask completing 21 out of 29 of his passes for 268 yards, four touchdowns and one interception on the day.

However, while Trask didn't have the 400-plus yard day that he had last week, he looked calm, cool, and collected in the pocket for the majority of the day. The offense simply didn't click as effortlessly, especially in the second half of the contest.

Two turnovers by the Florida offense, one via a Trask fumble and the other via a Trask interception late, ultimately led to 14 points by the Gamecocks offense. However, Florida started slow and ended slower on defense on the day, surrendering 14 points in the first half, while allowing 10 points in the fourth quarter to make the game a close one in the end.

One of the true difference-makers in the game today came due to Florida running just 53 plays, while the Gamecocks would run 83 plays on the day.

Florida's defense would surrender far too many yards on first and second down today with the Gamecocks netting 25 first downs, with 329 net yards on the day. Hill completed 28 out of 47 of his passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

It was another incredible day for Gators tight end Kyle Pitts who was able to haul in four receptions for 57 yards and two touchdowns. Pitts made it through the day ultimately catching six touchdowns in six quarters dating back to last week's victory against the Ole Miss Rebels.

On the day, Florida recorded seven "big plays," gains of 15 yards or more, including a fantastic 57-yard catch and run for a touchdown by Florida receiver Kadarius Toney that would ultimately be the final score of the game for the Gators. 

The Gators will head on the road again for week three as they look to take on Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M next weekend.