Florida won its first six games of the season, but South Carolina enters the Gators-Gamecocks matchup on the winning streak. In shocking fashion, South Carolina knocked off top-ranked Georgia, 20-17, in double overtime on the road Saturday.

A major part of the upset victory was South Carolina defensive front. Coming into last week, Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm had been sacked just once all season, but the Gamecocks sacked Fromm three times and also pressured him into throwing a pick-six.

With that in mind, Florida coach Dan Mullen was highly complimentary of the South Carolina defensive line, calling it “dominant” and “as good as anyone” during his teleconference Wednesday. He also added the unit is “very well coached” and always providing different looks.

Mullen also mentioned the South Carolina secondary, which features sophomore defensive back Israel Mukuamu. He picked off Fromm three times last Saturday and returned one for a touchdown.

Here’s what else Mullen said on Wednesday:

  • On preparing for multiple QBs: I don’t know how big that is. It’s big when they run different offenses with different QBs but they seem to run the same offense… it’s a challenge coming into a week where they have not been in his position, where they can gameplan for each of them… will they run the same offense? or will they add flair for one guy over another?
  • On Emory Jones, coaching him up: I just talk about the success and that’s not believing in anything anyone says outside the program… “why is this guy in?” just run off the field… these guys are able to do that well… you can kinda coach them within the series
  • Can most players handle that? (coming in and out): I don’t know, it’s all individual-based, it’s all about trust… those guys have seen the development they have made… they have just in our program
  • Where has your team improved the most? I don’t know, maybe just understanding what kind of team you have, you never really know until you play… you don’t know the strength and weaknesses because all you’ve done is play against each other… I think we know what we do well and what we don’t.