SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

A lot will be made of the officiating Saturday, and rightfully so, but there was a bigger play late in the game that arguably swung the tide even more.

With the Gamecocks up three early in the fourth quarter, the South Carolina defense faced a chance to get off the field and maintain some momentum with Florida facing a fourth down in plus territory.

The Gamecocks seemed to have dialed up the right play, but Florida converted and would score the go-ahead touchdown on the very next play.

“Javon got a lot of pressure and (Trask) was able to buy time. We had really good coverage and he threw a nice ball. We need to find a way to secure the ball carrier and get the ball off the receiver in that situation. There were some critical plays in every game—four to six—and they made the ones they needed to make. Credit them.”

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Florida needed three yards to extend the drive, and if they didn’t get it South Carolina got the ball back up three with a shade over 10 minutes to go.

The play started off about as good as it possibly could for South Carolina with Javon Kinlaw bullrushing the center, knocking him over and getting within inches of sacking starter Kyle Trask.

Instead, he fell down with the center, his fingertips brushing the quarterback as he fell to the ground.

“I just have to finish,” Kinlaw said. “Simple. I had the opportunity to make a big play right there. I just have to finish. I have to get off that block.”

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Trask evaded the rush, rolling out to his left toward the Gamecock sideline. Both Ernest Jones and D.J. Wonnum, who were in coverage at the time, sprinted up to try and tackle Trask near the line of scrimmage.

That’s when the Gator quarterback pulled up and fired a strike past both of them and in front of RJ Roderick for a nine-yard completion to Kyle Pitts.

It was good coverage for the most part, but like Muschamp said, the Gamecocks need to find a way to either stop Trask or get the ball off of the receiver once he caught it.

“Man-to-man coverage. The quarterback started to scramble around. Me and DJ were going to pull him up. You know, you can only ask them to cover so long. Eventually somebody’s going to get open. We need to get to him quicker,” Ernest Jones said. “He dumped it over both of us and first down.”

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Florida scored on the very next play, a 25-yard pass play from Trask to Freddie Swain, and the Gators didn’t trail again. They’d score 21 of the next 28 points to close the game.

“That fourth down, we were in position and we have to coach the guy better,” Muschamp said. “We have to figure that out. We were in position and we don’t make a play. They make the play.”