SEC Kickoff: Everything you need to know about South Carolina at Florida

Here’s everything you need to know about the SEC East showdown between South Carolina and Florida on Saturday afternoon.

When: Today
Where: Gainesville, Fla.
Game Time: 12 p.m. EST
TV: SEC Network
Current Line: Florida (-7)

Game Buzz: As the SEC finale for both teams, the Florida Gators and South Carolina Gamecocks are both looking to end their conference schedule on a high note. Florida still has an outside shot at winning the SEC East, but will need serious outside help, meaning today’s game is a must-win situation. For the Gamecocks, it’s more about pride than anything as they hope to get back to.500 and in a position to become bowl-eligible before the season is over.

Saturday Down South previews

• 5 things to watch: South Carolina at Florida
• Steve Spurrier returns home
• Behind Enemy Lines: Q&A with Willie Smith, South Carolina beat writer
• Despite USC’s struggles, Dylan Thompson poses big threat to Gators
• South Carolina adjusts defensive starters for Treon Harris, Gators
• Inside the Numbers: Expect trench warfare for South Carolina, Florida
• Stopping the run paramount for Gamecocks at Florida

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

Players to watch:

• QB Dylan Thompson
• RB Mike Davis
• WR Pharoh Cooper
• LB Skai Moore
• DB T.J. Gurley
• DB Brison Williams

Keys for South Carolina:

• Feed Pharoh the football. Pharoh Cooper accounted for 286 yards and four touchdowns, including two receiving, one rushing and one passing in South Carolina’s Week 10 loss to Tennessee. Cooper leads the Gamecocks with 786 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. The sophomore has shown both consistency and improvement in recent weeks, becoming South Carolina’s biggest threat in its passing attack.
• Balance the offense. South Carolina’s offense looked strong against Tennessee until a late-game collapse. After several forced plays went awry, the Gamecocks blew a 14-point lead and lost by a field goal in overtime. South Carolina must run the football well late into the game to run out the clock and avoid mistakes.
• Stop the running game. The Gamecocks defense has struggled in 2014. South Carolina allowed 645 yards of total offense in Week 10 and saw Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs record over 300 passing yards and 100 rushing yards. Florida’s Treon Harris presents a similar problem for the Gamecocks defense and must be contained in Saturday’s game.

Glaring weakness to watch: Defense. South Carolina has eight total sacks, ranking No. 120 overall. The Gamecocks have allowed 460.6 yards per game and 39 touchdowns in 10 games.

Most interesting part of the game: Can South Carolina salvage its season in a must win game? The Gamecocks have three games remaining and need at least two wins to earn bowl eligibility. Though next week’s game against South Alabama seems like a sure win, Saturday’s game at Florida and a season finale at Clemson should be tough matchups.

Team Buzz: South Carolina failed to close out another potential victory after a fourth quarter collapse in Week 10. The Gamecocks need an immediate turnaround to save their season and gain momentum with three games remaining.

FLORIDA GATORS

Players to watch:

• QB Treon Harris
• RB Matt Jones
• WR Demarcus Robinson
• DE Dante Fowler
• CB Vernon Hargreaves
• ATH Andre Debose

Keys for Florida:

• Pound the rock. This is just purely mathematical. South Carolina has the worst run defense in the conference by a wide margin. Florida’s running game has really come along in recent weeks. Pound the rock and Florida should have success.
• Get off to a fast start. As great as it is for the Gators to be back in front of the home crowd, the last time they played at The Swamp they were booed and “Fire Muschamp” chants rained down. If things should get rocky, it’ll be interesting to see just how much patience Florida fans have with the team. A fast start would get the crowd behind the team early and likely provide a huge boost of confidence.
• Throw the deep ball. Last week, Treon Harris proved he’s got the arm to make all of the long throws. With South Carolina’s weak pass rush, he should have plenty of time in the backfield to dial up the big pass plays. Connecting on a few of them will certainly be a huge boost for the Gators this afternoon.

Glaring weakness to watch: Home struggles. For whatever reason, things just don’t seem to go the Gators’ way recently when playing at home. Let’s see if they can reverse their fortunes this afternoon.

Most interesting part of the game: Spurrier returning back to Gainesville. Yes, it’s the HBC’s fifth trip back to The Swamp as South Carolina’s head coach, but it’s always just a little bit different when he comes back to Florida.

Team buzz: Florida seems to be heading in a new, positive direction with Treon Harris at quarterback. Today’s regular season SEC finale is huge for the Gators as they hope to somehow win the SEC East. It’s an absolute must-win situation.

Drew Laing

Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.