Florida football was riding high for four weeks before it was hit with a gut-wrenching reality check. After capturing its first 4-0 start in six years, the Gators were exposed against then-No. 25 Missouri in a 45-17 rout. Week 6 ushers in a daunting task: tackling the adversity.
“There’s a lot to learn in every scenario you go through,” head coach Jon Sumrall said Monday. “When you lose a game, I think it forces everybody to take more direct accountability to what we're doing.”
No. 16 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) plummeted eight spots in the AP Top 25 Poll following the road loss. It now faces South Carolina (2-3, 0-3), which has yet to prove it can tango with top SEC talent. The Gamecocks opened the season 2-0 but have failed to play a cohesive 60 minutes in any of their three latest contests.
South Carolina is captained by dual-threat quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The junior has tallied 1,059 passing yards coupled with 391 on the ground. Sellers came out of SC’s overtime loss against Kentucky on Saturday with 226 passing yards, two touchdowns and 147 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Florida has experience against mobile quarterbacks this season after facing Auburn’s Byrum Brown and Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss in back-to-back weeks and keeping them to 65 and 44 rushing yards, respectively. Florida JACK Jayden Woods particularly stood out against the signal callers, totaling 3.5 sacks and 10 tackles in the contests.
“Rushing smart but not scared will be key for us,” Woods said Tuesday.
Despite Sellers’ efforts, the Gamecocks blew a second-quarter 17-point lead against Kentucky in Week 5. The Wildcats went on a 24-3 run heading into the fourth quarter and kicked a field goal with 4:13 remaining to send the contest into overtime.
Sellers connected with tight end Maurice Brown II in the end zone on the first possession of OT, and the extra point made it 34-27, but Kentucky soon took advantage. The Wildcats tacked on a touchdown four plays later, and quarterback Kenny Minchey found his tight end wide open in the back of the end zone for the walk-off two-point conversion to stun the South Carolina faithful.
Gamecock fans at Williams-Brice Stadium were used to the late-game heartbreak, though. On Sept. 19, the Gamecocks dropped a two-possession lead heading into halftime against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs went on a 27-point run to take a commanding 41-23 lead in the fourth quarter, and the Gamecocks failed to create a resurgence of their own.
South Carolina hasn’t defeated the Gators in The Swamp since 2014. Florida leads the at-home series 17-2 and the all-time meetings 31-10-3. Saturday also brings extra motivation for the Gators to get the job done in Gainesville: Homecoming.
They are 31-5 across their last 36 Homecoming matchups and 73-26-2 all-time. Florida’s last contest brought a 23-21 victory against Mississippi State on Oct. 18, 2025. Running back Jadan Baugh scampered for 150 yards in the win, a statline Florida looks to replicate.
The Gators’ lack of success on the ground proved costly against Missouri. Baugh rushed for a career-low 13 yards (min. five attempts). The junior saw just 12 carries in the loss and couldn’t generate any semblance of offense outside of a sole rush. Baugh ran for 12 yards on the second play of the game but was stuffed at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield in the rest of the attempts.
South Carolina gives up the SEC’s sixth-fewest rushing yards per game at 100.4. Both Kentucky and Alabama’s backs failed to eclipse 50 yards against the Gamecocks in their respective matchups.
Baugh was riding a five-game streak of 135 rushing yards or more, dating back to last season. Florida is built on playing complementary football, so the Atlanta native will have to get it together to lead the Gators to a much-needed victory.
In past matchups against South Carolina, Florida has had immense success on the ground. The Gators tallied 374 net rushing yards against the Gamecocks in 2022, marking the program’s highest SEC total over the last 12 seasons.
Similar to the Gators, the Gamecocks are offense-driven and have produced quality performances despite their record. South Carolina has a slew of firepower at wideout with four receivers at 150 yards or more on the year. Mazeo Bennett Jr. leads the committee, coming off the best performance of his three seasons in Columbia. Bennett added 92 yards on eight receptions against Kentucky.
The Gamecocks sit just 0.2 yards behind Florida in yards per game with 491. South Carolina is No. 3 in the conference in the category and No. 1 in average rushing yards with 256. The team’s running back Matt Fuller leads the pack with 433 yards on the year and will be a major factor Saturday.
Florida has allowed the conference’s seventh-most yards on the ground (126.4), paving the way for Fuller and Sellers to find potential success in The Swamp. Fuller is putting together his best season with the Gamecocks in his three years with the program and has found the end zone in each of the team’s five games.
“The running back doesn't get enough credit,” Sumrall said. “I think he's really good.”
The Gators skyrocketed to No. 8 in the AP Poll following their beatdown of Ole Miss in Week 4, but Missouri brought them back to Earth on Saturday. The Homecoming contest marks Florida’s final game before it takes on back-to-back powerhouses on the road against No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Georgia.
“Our players take great pride in what this program is all about and we want to build upon that,” Sumrall said. “Being at the University of Florida, the pressure of that is a privilege, and it’s something that I embrace.”
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @rileyorovitz.
Riley is a junior sports journalism student and a Fall 2026 sports editor and Gators football beat reporter. Currently in her third semester with The Alligator, she has previously covered Gators swim & dive and Gators gymnastics. She is an avid South Florida sports fan and enjoys playing/following all sports in her free time.
