‘It’s about executing’: Florida offense stalls for second consecutive week

With two top-ranked opponents on the horizon and last week’s disappointing loss to the Missouri Tigers still looming in the background, Florida needed to capitalize on its showdown with a struggling SEC opponent. 

But with the Gamecocks in town riding a three-game losing streak, the Gators were unable to get the job done at home. Florida found the end zone just twice in the 38-19 loss, its second-lowest point total of the season, as the offense struggled to execute any long-yardage plays and consistently test South Carolina’s defense. 

“Disappointing football today by us; no excuse for it,” Sumrall said. “Today's not anywhere near where we need to perform. So many things to clean up. Just not a good football performance by us.”

Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of what went wrong for the Gators’ offense.

Quarterbacks

Headed into Saturday’s game, plenty of attention was on the play of starting quarterback Aaron Philo. While he had a solid start to the season, completing just over 69% of his throws for 1,114 yards, 8 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, his numbers had dipped in SEC play. And against the Gamecocks, that trend continued. 

While Philo’s overall numbers of 21 for 28 passing for 227 yards, a touchdown and an interception don’t jump off the page as lackluster, a deeper dive into the junior quarterback’s performance raises a lot of red flags, as proved evident by his lackluster 31.9 quarterback rating, by far his lowest mark of the season (his previous low was a 63.5 against Missouri).

Nine of Philo’s 21 completions came behind the line of scrimmage, per Pro Football Focus. On those throws, his average depth of target was -3.4 yards. More worrying, however, were Philo’s numbers when he was pressured: he went 2-of-4 passing for 15 yards and an interception. He was sacked three times on those plays despite an average time to throw of 2.93 seconds, per PFF.

That aforementioned interception came in the second half. On a 2nd-and-11 far within Florida territory, Philo looked for wide receiver Bailey Stockton, who was running a deep out route. However, he did not see South Carolina cornerback Vicari Swain, who barely needed to flinch to secure the pick. 

“Sometimes you have to understand, ‘Hey, is it not there? Take what's there,” Sumrall said. “It's about staying on schedule, it's about being efficient, it's about executing.”

Philo’s last throw of the day came in the fourth quarter with Florida already at a sizeable disadvantage. On a 4th and 3, he fired for TJ Abrams near the sideline, but his pass was nowhere near the mark. After that, he was replaced by Tramell Jones Jr., who went 6-for-8 passing for 40 yards and an interception that bounced off the hands of tight end Evan Chieca. He also threw an “interception” on a two-point try after UF’s late scoring drive. 

While this isn’t a QB controversy just yet, it’s clear that if Philo doesn’t improve, the ceiling of this team is severely capped.

Running backs

After last week’s abysmal performance on the ground, posting just 42 rushing yards against Missouri, the Gators’ run game showed some flashes. However, it wasn’t nearly as dominant as the first four outings.

Through the first two frames, Philo led Florida’s rushing attack, posting 28 yards on the ground. However, Jadan Baugh eventually found his footing enough to do some damage. He exploded for 26 yards in Florida’s first drive out of the half, and he finished with 15 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. 

With the exception of last week at Missouri, this was Baugh’s lowest since he posted 46 yards against Miami in Sept. 2025.  

For the second consecutive week, Baugh only forced one missed tackle, per PFF. In the prior four weeks, he had forced 34 missed tackles.

“Quarterback, running back, both the guys in the backfield, a lot of what they're able to get done is predicated by what's going on in front of them,” Sumrall said. “We want those guys to feel like they don't have to hit the home run or the big play down in and down out.”

The Gators running back unit was also hit with an injury to Duke Clark in the first half. Clark shined against Ole Miss, posting 12 carries for 126 yards, but he was limited to just three carries for five yards Saturday after coming out the locker room in a boot after halftime. 

Florida finished the afternoon rushing for 120 yards, a number Baugh surpassed on his own in each of the Gators’ first four outings. 

Wide receivers and tight ends

The wide receiver room was clearly hurting from the absence of Vernell Brown III for the second straight week. Without him and with limited action from Eric Singleton Jr., who struggled to fight through a lingering ankle injury, Philo struggled to facilitate a balanced attack. 

Bailey Stockton and Dallas Wilson got the bulk of the looks. Stockton was targeted a team-high 11 times, catching eight passes for 127 yards and the sole passing touchdown of the day. 

“I don't really care about that,” Stockton said. “I could have zero catches. I just want to win.”

Wilson trailed with eight receptions for 74 yards. Behind them, no other receiver posted more than two receptions or 14 yards. In a contest that should have allowed the wide receiver corps to flex its depth, Florida fell flat in the passing game. 

Stockton wasn’t quick to pin the loss on the absence of key receivers, though.

“He's obviously a difference maker,” Stockton said of Brown. “You see what he can do, but I think it's all eleven of us. It's not just one guy. We need to go out there, and we just got to execute.” 

The wide receivers were not alone in the struggles, as the tight ends were rendered ineffective Saturday. Luke Harpring added two catches for seven yards, while Lacota Dippre added one catch for nine yards. Chieca was also responsible for one of the turnovers of the day, dropping a Jones pass into the hands of South Carolina’s Justin Okoronkwo. 

Florida finished the day with 267 passing yards, with Stockton and Wilson clearly doing all the heavy lifting on the receiving end. 

Offensive line

For the second consecutive week, Florida’s offensive line was well out of whack.

After surrendering 11 pressures and seven hurries that resulted in two sacks against Missouri, the Gator offensive line allowed nine pressures, six hurries and three sacks.

Four of those pressures, two of those hurries and two of those sacks were attributed to right tackle Emeka Ugorji. Overall, he earned a 4.3 pass-blocking grade, per PFF. Meanwhile, left tackle Bryce Lovett, who had a 28.5 pass-blocking grade last week (3 hurries and pressures allowed), struggled once again. He once again surrendered three hurries and pressures en route to a 35.3 pass-blocking grade.

Struggles on both corners of the offensive line, paired with run-blocking woes from left guard Knijeah Harris (44.2 grade), allowed the South Carolina front to feast on Philo, Baugh and the other members of Florida’s backfield.

“For the majority of the day, their defensive front won the battle at the line of scrimmage over us in the run and the pass game,” Sumrall said. “When we wanted to get into obvious drop-back pass situations, it was bad too. And I think they've got good players, but we have to help our guys play better.”

Gamecocks defensive end Dylan Stewart, who returned to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension last week, was all over Ugorji in their one-on-one matchup. The projected first-round pick had five tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two forced fumbles, one of which was recovered by Shawn Murphy. Ultimately, the dynamic pass rusher finished with a 95.7 PFF grade, by far the highest mark of any player on either side of the ball Saturday.

“When we were dropping back to pass, the quarterback was not real comfortable because the rush, 6 [Stewart] and 40 [Anthony Addison, who had three pressures], those guys were living in our backfield in obvious pass situations,” Sumrall said.

Florida’s offensive line won’t get an easy matchup next week either. Texas’ defense is headlined by Colin Simmons, one of the nation’s most effective pass rushers. This season, the junior has 9.5 sacks, 5 of which came against Tennessee on Sept. 26.

Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @avadicecca24.

Contact Max Bernstein at mberstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @maxbernstein23.

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