The Florida Gators rode a quick start and stellar defense throughout to maintain their late season momentum. Saturday’s 38-6 home win over South Carolina was much more important than just clinching bowl eligibility. Florida has now positioned themselves to wrap up the season with a win/loss record that more favorably reflects the progress this program has made over the last 11 months. The Gators are also well-positioned to finish the 2023 recruiting cycle with a class ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Of late, Florida’s has demonstrated an ability, both, to execute a running game that earns over 240 rushing yards per game and also takes care of the football. For the season the Gators have averaged 225 rushing yards per game. For the most recent 4 games, even with just 100 rushing yards against Georgia, Florida has averaged 243 per game. In Florida’s 6 wins, they’ve rushed for an average of 279 per game. In the 4 losses, the per game rushing average was just 147. To win, the Gators must run the ball well.

Turnover margin has been a key, as well. In the last 4 games, the Gators have had nine takeaways and just one (insignificant) turnover.

The Gator’s also continue to made great progress with poise and focus. This week’s game provided further evidence of progress in this area. Florida remained poised during the second half of this week’s game despite chippiness initiated by the Gamecocks. In recent years, Florida has been too easily provoked into bad decisions. The Gators are growing up as a team.

Focusing on this week’s South Carolina game, there was much to like. The Florida defense extended their good work from last week at Texas AM, by providing 4 more quarters of shutout football. It has been 6 quarters since the Gators allowed any points on defense. The scheme has been more aggressive and tackling has been solid. Against SC, Florida had 3 sacks and a whopping 7 tackles for loss. In 49 snaps, the Gators allowed no plays for over 18 yards and only 5 that gained more than 8 yards. Offensively, Florida scored on every one of their first half possessions. In the second half, however, they failed to score points on two of three third quarter possessions that all began within field goal range. For the second week in a row, the Gators could have made the game a romp with better third quarter execution.

The most concerning aspect of this week’s game was special teams play. There was nothing special about the Florida special teams. The Gators gave up a 48 yard touchdown on an SC fake punt. The game circumstance when the fake occurred was such that the fake could have clearly been anticipated. Somehow Florida completely failed to cover the SC gunner who was open by twenty yards. The Gators also missed a short field goal, mishandled the placement on another short field goal attempt, had net negative yardage on their own punt returns, and allowed a 37 yard punt return by SC. It took a great day by the Gator defense to erase the opportunities the special teams gave to the Gamecocks.

Next week’s game against Vanderbilt offers a golden opportunity for the Gators to get to 7-5 (4-4 in SEC games). As a 14 point favorite, Florida has to simply trust the process and execute the same formula that has brought the best results. Over 240 yards of rushing offense and no turnovers.