SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

After a huge upset last week, the Gamecocks couldn't pull off another Saturday against Florida in a 38-27 loss.

The Gamecocks had their bright spots on both sides of the ball and their dings as well.

Moving on from it, GamecockCentral hands out its weekly grades.

Quarterback: D+

In fairness to Hilinski, we don't know how dinged up he really was with his knee, or his elbow only a few weeks removed from tendinitis, but any time a quarterback completes less than 50 percent of his passes and averages 4.9 yards per attempt, the grade should reflect it.

Also see: Insider scoop on this weekend's visitors

He looked really good on the first and last scoring drives, but in between struggled with accuracy, missing on a handful of deep balls throughout the day. He hung tough, getting sacked three times and hit a few more, but couldn't do enough in the pass game late to win.

Running backs: B

This group again continues to impress, and they did it Saturday without Rico Dowdle for all but one play. Tavien Feaster stepped in and played arguably the best game of his career so far, popping off for career highs in carries (25) and yards (177) while averaging seven yards per carry.

Mon Denson also had 12 rushes for 58 yards and scored his first touchdown of the season. There were a few pass protection breakdowns, which dings the grade some.

Wide receivers/tight ends: C-

Bryan Edwards had 78 yards with 41 of those coming on a flea flicker pass on the first drive, but Josh Vann, Nick Muse and Shi Smith all had productive or semi-productive days when the pass game was working Saturday. The biggest knock comes on dropped passes, which became an issue again Saturday after a year with relatively no issues.

Offensive line: B-

This group has been much improved in the run game, which is why the grade is so high. Take away sack yardage and the Gamecocks rushed for 267 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry, a lot to do with the offensive line paving the way for the running backs.

Also see: Insider notes on the latest hoops commitment

Their grade is lower because of pass protection, which it struggled with at times Saturday, giving up three sacks, including a crucial strip sack on the drive following Florida's go-ahead touchdown.

Defensive line: B-

A week after dominating Georgia, this group was good but not the dominant unit it had been the last two weeks. It gave up 171 yards on the ground, misfitting a few things up front that led to a few big runs. They did sack Kyle Trask twice but lost contain a few times, which led to Trask extending a few plays.

Linebackers: C+

This group was strictly average, doing a few things well but misfitting a few things also. They tackled well on the perimeter for the majority of the game but got bounced out of gaps in the run game sometimes as well.

Ernest Jones (five tackles) and TJ Brunson (six tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss) continue to be productive players.

Secondary: B-

J.T. Ibe probably had his best game at South Carolina, racking up eight tackles, RJ Roderick did some nice things as well with six tackles and a pass breakup.

Jammie Robinson had his best game of his career with four tackles, a forced fumble and his first-career interception.

They did have a few coverage breakdowns leading to touchdowns, but Trask averaged a little over six yards per attempt Saturday.

Also see: Detailed notes from Thursday's baseball scrimmage

Special teams: A

Joe Charlton averaged 45.9 yards on seven punts, had four downed inside the 20 and none for touchbacks. Parker White drilled both of his field goals, including tying his career long with a 49-yarder in the first half. Will Tommie had three of his five kickoffs go for touchbacks. Shi Smith rattled off a 25-yard kick return and averaged 21.5 yards per attempt on special teams.

Coverage teams only allowed 24 total return yards Saturday; another day at the office for the special teams unit.

Coaching: C

Bryan McClendon maybe stuck with the run a little too much (43 attempts to 35 pass attempts) but it was working, so it's hard to fault a coach for sticking with it. There weren't any real glaring coaching decisions to point to as why the Gamecocks lost the game—there were a lot of officiating blunders.

The knock on McClendon, if there is one, is the Gamecocks not mixing things up on first downs. They had 30 first-down plays in Saturday's game and ran the ball 19 times, averaging 4.5 yards per play. Florida, comparatively, averaged over seven yards on first down.

Prior to the fourth quarter they had 19 first downs and ran the ball 15 times in those.