The Halftime Report: South Carolina Vs. Florida

South Carolina's Football team looks to play more complementary football, as they head into the halftime break down 24-21 against Florida.

The South Carolina Gamecocks came into their week seven matchup looking to get back to .500, and so far, they're bringing the fight to the Florida Gators, but look to make more plays defensively, as they're down 24-21 at the break.

The start of the game couldn't have gone any worse for Clayton White's defense, as the Gamecocks allowed Florida to gain massive chunks of yardage on their first drive and score just four minutes and 13 seconds into the ballgame. However, Dowell Loggains' offense would put together an immediate response, exposing Florida's lack of edge containment in rush defense, and running their way down the field, setting up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Rattler to Trey Knox.

Mario Anderson Jr. Shedding A Gator Tackler In The First Half (14th Oct. 2023) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

On the next two defense drives, Carolina's defense faced an onslaught of play-action plays Billy Napier's offense, and while they tightened things up on early downs, they struggled to get off the field early in drives, and allowed the Gators to notch two straight field goals. For the Gamecocks offense, they once again had their way with Florida's defense, as on their second drive, they used play-action concepts which were setup by Mario Anderson Jr.'s run success on the previous drive. An explosive pass to Nyckoles Harbor helped setup a five-play, 75-yard drive for touchdown.

On the defense's fourth drive, the Gators got some revenge in the form of their own play-action success, hitting a 45-yard pass to get inside the Gamecocks' 10-yard line and hitting a crossing route to cap off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass that put them back out in front 21-14.

As far as adjustments go, South Carolina's offense just needs to make sure they continue to stay ahead of the curve against this Gators defense. For the defense, they have got a ton of issues to fix, like biting too hard on the play-action naked bootlegs, missing assignments at the second-level on third down, and not getting enough push on the interior d-line in rush defense. This will be an important twenty minutes for this team, as they look to put together a more complete second half.

How To Watch: South Carolina vs. Florida

• Gameday: Saturday, October 14th, 2023.
• Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, SC
• TV: SEC Network
• Live stream on fuboTV: Start with a 7-day free trial!

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• How The Gamecocks' Offensive Issues Have Compounded One Another

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