Finally, South Carolina caught a break.

Multiple, actually.

The Gamecocks’ second win ever at Florida didn’t follow the same script of their four most recent SEC games, all losses. Instead of squandering a fourth-quarter lead, it was the opposition who failed to execute late in the game, unable to move the chains or cleanly get off a punt in the final minute.

RELATED: Where does the Florida win rank on Spurrier’s list?

“I’m getting a little old when you start feeling sorry for the other coach,” Steve Spurrier said after South Carolina’s improbable overtime victory, its first SEC win in nearly two months. “I do feel for coach (Will) Muschamp. He’s a good guy, and it appeared they had that game in pretty good shape, but they didn’t make a first down and we blocked the punt and we win the game somehow.”

Sound familiar?

South Carolina’s inability to finish this season led to its first 4-5 start in 10 years under Spurrier and made many, including the Head Ball Coach himself, question his future in Columbia.

With those worries temporarily over at 5-5 in line for a bowl berth with a win over South Alabama on Saturday, the Gamecocks’ 2014 campaign could be saved at Clemson on Nov. 29. The 180-degree turn from the fanbase may be difficult to comprehend for some, but it’s a product of every game’s importance in college football.

Muschamp found that out the hard way Saturday after his third consecutive home loss during a season of disappointment was the kill shot.

Following a 45-42 loss to Tennessee on Nov. 1, South Carolina looked like a team heading toward a losing season without a sliver of confidence and little direction from its defensive coaching staff.

Something clicked during the Gamecocks’ ‘back to the drawing board’ approach during the bye week and a team plagued by its own misfortune discovered how to finish

A frustrating afternoon offensively in Gainesville turned heroic when Mike Davis and the South Carolina offense moved inside the 10 during overtime knowing a touchdown would win the game. Dylan Thompson’s 5-yard keeper for the score on 1st-and-goal was this season’s top highlight, salvaging what could have been one of the definitive games for Spurrier’s future.

The fifth-year senior quarterback should receive the loudest cheers when he’s honored this weekend on senior day against South Alabama in his final home game.

Riding a five-game Palmetto Bowl winning streak over Clemson heading into the regular-season finale, the Gamecocks not only have a chance to wreck Dabo Swinney’s bowl placement but have a realistic shot at reaching eight victories for the fifth straight season — an unprecedented feat at South Carolina.

Eight wins despite the nation’s 100th-ranked defense that’s blown three fourth-quarter leads?

You take that and enjoy the offseason in Crescent Beach, Fla., if you’re Spurrier.