COLUMBIA, S.C. - For three quarters, beaten down Florida stayed with South Carolina but the Gamecocks responded in the fourth quarter with the drive it needed to get past the Gators to edge closer to an SEC East title with a hard fought 19-14 win.
Trailing 14-13 from its own 5 early in the fourth quarter, South Carolina tailback Shon Carson - playing with starter Mike Davis on the bench nursing an ankle injury - broke loose up the middle for a 58-yard run. Carson finished 102 yards on 13 carries. That moved the ball to the Gators' 37. On third-and-9 from the Florida 36, Connor Shaw hit Rory Anderson over the middle for a 34-yard gain to the 2.
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Anderson pulled the ball in while sandwiched between UF defenders Jaylen Watkins and Neiron Ball. On fourth-and-goal, Elliott Fry converted a 22-yard field goal, his third of four in the game, to put the Gamecocks on top with 6:43 left in the game.
Auburn's 43-38 win against Georgia in the first half was greeted with a loud cheer from the season-high 83,853 fans at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Bulldogs loss meant South Carolina (8-2 overall, 6-2 in SEC play) just had to beat Florida then have Missouri lose one of its final league games.
The Gamecocks own the tiebreaker with Mizzou after beating the Tigers 27-24 in double overtime. Florida has lost five consecutive games and needs to beat Georgia Southern and Florida State in the final two regular season games to avoid not going to a bowl game, when not under NCAA sanctions, for the first time since 1979's 0-10-1 team. It's also the first five-game losing streak for UF since '79.
For a half, Florida looked closer to the team that won 11 games last season - holding South Carolina to a pair of Fry field goals from 25 and 45 yards while rushing for 169, leading 14-6 at the break. It was the first time since the Oct. 5 game against Arkansas (a 17-7 advantage) that the Gators led at the half.
Kelvin Taylor scored on touchdown runs of 20 and 29 yards for both of the Gators' first half scores. His 13 rushes for 86 yards in the first two quarters took a large amount of pressure off Skyler Mornhinweg, who was making his first career start after Tyler Murphy was held out with a shoulder injury.
Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp and Florida Gators linebacker Darrin Kitchens (49) react in Saturday's game.(Photo: Jeff Blake, USA TODAY Sports)
Taylor finished with 96 yards on 21 attempts.
It was the first time since 1997 that UF started three quarterbacks in one season. Mornhinweg, a redshirt freshman getting his first career snaps, threw just two passes in the opening two quarters.
South Carolina, however, got momentum back early in the second half. Connor Shaw led the Gamecocks 64 yards in seven plays - hitting Bruce Ellington for a 32-yard touchdown to get USC within 14-13 at the 10:23 mark in the third. Both teams struggled on drives but the Gamecocks finally broke free with some big plays.
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After Fry's third field goal, Florida got the ball but elected to try a trick play on fourth down. Trey Burton's pass to Leon Orr was knocked down and South Carolina took over at the Gators' 32 with less than five minutes remaining. Fry added a 43-yard field for some insurance points at 2:16 in the game.
A couple of completed passes got the Gators to the USC 48. But Mornhinweg, who finished 10 of 13 for 107 yards, tried to force a pass and the Gamecocks' Jimmy Legree picked it off to seal the game.
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