Shane Beamer gained arguably the best win of his young head coaching career Saturday night with a 40-17 victory over SEC East rival Florida.

South Carolina was powered by a rejuvenated run game and another great performance on the defensive side of the ball to secure the blow out win.

The Gamecock defense appeared to be back to normal on the first drive of the game, forcing a turnover on downs after a four play drive.

Jason Brown got the start under center and lead a solid evenly played first drive. After a 65 yard drive the Gamecocks, who have struggled to finish drives this season, were only able to put three points on the board thanks to a 39 yard field goal from Parker White.

Emory Jones and the Florida offense woke up on their second drive. A 52 yard bomb from Jones to Justin Shorter eventually set up a 12 yard touchdown pass to Xzavier Henderson.

While Florida's passing attack was waking up, the same was happening for South Carolina's running game. Through its first two drives, the Gamecocks had 111 rushing yards with ZaQuandre White leading the way. White had 86 rushing yards in the first quarter, thanks in part to a 54 yard long rush in which he dodged almost every Florida defense.

At this point, South Carolina was able to take a 10-7 lead thanks to a two yard wildcat keeper from Juju McDowell. Jones' arm got the Gators right back in it though, a 61 yard pass to Justin Shorter set up a chip shot field goal to tie the game at 10.

The Gamecock run game continued to shine early in the second quarter. A 39 yard rush from Kevin Harris helped South Carolina get into field goal position to set up a Parker White field goal to retake the lead.

The 39 yard rush from Harris was huge, he hadn't rushed for more than 39 yards in five of his last seven appearances coming into Saturday night.

Right when the run game was heating up, Brown's arm started to do the same. A few plays after finding Josh Vann on a 50 yard pass, Brown hit Vann in the end zone for a 24 yard touchdown pass to extend the Gamecock lead to 20-10.

The end of the drive saw Vann reach 113 receiving yards, he'd go on to have 111 on the day.

The Gamecock defense continued to play well throughout the first half. Through its first five drives, Florida turned the ball over on downs three times, all of which led to South Carolina scores.

With under a minute to go Aaron Sterling stripped the ball out of Jones' hands and Jabari Ellis picked it up, taking it 18 yards back to the house for a touchdown to put South Carolina up 30-10.

At the end of the first half, South Carolina had 316 total yards, more than they totaled in each of the Georgia, Kentucky and Texas A&M games.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Gamecocks held Florida to 193 yards in the first half, for reference the Gators had 200 yards in the first half against Alabama.

Both offenses stalled on their first drives of the first half, with Florida going three and out and South Carolina punting after five plays.

The Gamecocks however were able to get back in gear on their second drive of the game, with Parker White hitting his career high fourth field goal of the game to increase the lead to 33-10.

South Carolina's defense continued to show out, stopping Florida on fourth and short and then scoring on the ensuing drive thanks to an eight yard touchdown pass from Brown to Jaheim Bell.

The defense was unable to keep Florida scoreless for the entire second half though after Jones found Rick Wells in the corner of the end zone on a nine yard touchdown pass. The score came in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and was the first for Florida since the first quarter.

Right after giving up the touchdown the Gamecock defense got right back into the swing of things thanks to a Cam Smith interception.

South Carolina finished the game with 459 total yards, it's most of any game this season. Brown finished with 175 passing yards and two touchdowns while both Kevin Harris and White ran for over 100 yards, leading the Gamecocks to 284 rushing yards.

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