Everything you need to know as South Carolina faces Florida after bye week

Coming off a bye week, South Carolina is back in action to face Florida on Saturday.

The Gamecocks (2-3, 1-2 SEC) haven’t played a game in two weeks. They last traveled to Tennessee and lost 41-20 on Sept. 30. It brought an end to what was a challenging first month of the season.

Now refreshed and rested, South Carolina will have a chance to get back in the win column this weekend. Before the game begins (3:30 p.m., SECN), here’s what you need to know about the Gators.

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How they got here

In head coach Billy Napier’s second year, Florida has had an up-and-down campaign. The Gators were manhandled by Utah in Week 1 but proceeded to win three straight, including an upset win over Tennessee in The Swamp.

However, Kentucky snapped the Gators’ win streak with a 33-14 win back in Week 5. But they did bounce back a week later with a 38-14 win over Vanderbilt to move to 4-2 (2-1 SEC).

The last time these two teams met, it wasn’t pretty. South Carolina traveled to Gainesville last year and lost 38-6. However, it went on to take down Tennessee and Clemson in back-to-back games after that.

Where they sit in the rankings

Florida ranks No. 34 in the College Football Power Index (FPI) with a 7.1 FPI. The Gamecocks are only two spots behind the Gators, checking in at No. 36 with a 6.7 FPI.

The Gators have a 62.2 percent chance to reach six wins and 1.7 percent chance to win the SEC East.

In the SP+ rankings, Florida comes in at No. 32 overall. It ranks 31st in offense and 26th in defense.

In the Massey ratings, the Gators are rated No. 29 overall. They rank No. 40 in offensive and No. 17 in defense. They have the 28th-best strength of schedule.

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Players to know

In South Carolina’s blowout loss to Florida last year, the defense couldn’t stop the run game at all. The Gators rushed for 374 yards and three touchdowns on 54 carries.

The bad news for the Gamecocks is the two leading rushers from that game will be on the field Saturday. Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne have been neck and neck in production so far this year.

Johnson has rushed for 388 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards. Etienne, meanwhile, has 358 yards and two touchdowns on 60 carries.

Point blank, if South Carolina wants to win this game, it must stop the run.

The third leading rusher from that game last year was Anthony Richardson. But he’s moved onto the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts, leaving the Gators in search of a new quarterback. But they’ve found their guy in Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz.

Mertz is having a fantastic season thus far, completing 80 percent of his passes. He’s thrown for 1,474 yards with nine touchdowns to two interceptions. But he has taken a lot of sacks with 15 already this year.

Florida’s defense has been one of the better units in the country this year. It ranks inside the top 20 in total defense. There’s a lot of good talent here but one name to watch is Shemar James.

James, a sophomore linebacker, leads the Gators with 42 tackles and has one sack. He’s a guy that can make plays all over the field, which could pose a problem for South Carolina’s offensive line in protecting Spencer Rattler.

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Path to victory

In the Shane Beamer era, South Carolina is 2-0 after the bye week. It wasn’t hard to tell that loss to Tennessee stung. But with two weeks to get ready for Florida, this group should be reenergized and ready to rock and roll.

That’s going to be part of the recipe to winning this weekend. Right from the start of the game, the energy has to be there. Guys need to be making plays and the crowd needs to be into it. It’s super cliche but home-field advantage will play a big role on Saturday.

As referenced before, South Carolina needs to play a better game defensively. And it will have to start with making Etienne and Johnson non-factors. It will be hard to keep both quiet for long but at least slowing down one of them could go a long way.

But even if the Gamecocks can stop the run, they still need to make plays against Mertz, who’s an incredibly accurate passer. He cannot get comfortable in the pocket, because if he has plenty of time to throw, odds are he’ll have a good day.

One player that needs to have a big day for South Carolina will be Mario Anderson. Two weeks ago, Florida gave up 280 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries to Kentucky running back Ray Davis. Sure, it was a different game and the Gators might’ve made some changes since then. But the run game is starting to get better for the Gamecocks, and it starts with Anderson having another big game.

Obviously, Rattler needs to play better for South Carolina to win. He’s been great this year but it feels like his sluggish performance against Tennessee is being overlooked.

There’s plenty of reason to believe he will bounce back. But it truly starts with the offensive line’s ability to block for him up front. Rattler cannot be taking sack after sack again. He needs time to throw.

It’s not going to be a walk in the park for South Carolina to win. It never really is. But expect this team to be as fired up as more than it has been all year as it’s in need of a big win.

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