Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
UF’s fifth straight loss ends bowl bid
COLUMBIA, S.C. — This time, the Florida Gators showed fight but still couldn’t score an elusive win.
A once vaunted defense was exposed and a struggling offense lost another starting quarterback. If Feleipe Franks had gone down Saturday at South Carolina, walk-on Nick Sproles of Winter Park would have been up next.
At the end of Saturday’s 28-20 loss at South Carolina, though, the Gators’ long-standing question under center was just one of a long list of concerns facing the school’s next head coach.
Down to just 53 healthy scholarship players by the end of their fifth straight defeat, the Gators (3-6, 3-5 SEC) have little left to play for during the season’s final two games. The 2017 season has become about the future.
A week after the Gators laid down during a 29-point defeat at Missouri, coach Randy Shannon said his players offered some hope going forward.
“They hung in there. Nobody quit,” Shannon said. “That tells you something about this program. I told those guys in that locker room, this Gator football team, this Gator program, is in good hands because of what those guys showed today.”
Trailing 28-20 during the final minutes, the Gators gave themselves a chance to force overtime, but a thirddown pass by Feleipe Franks was tipped at the line and intercepted on the UF 48-yard line with 1:06 remaining.
“Had a chance at the end of the game … just couldn’t get it done,” Shannon said.
But the Gators really never put a legitimate scare into former UF coach Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks.
“We made it more interesting than it needed to be,” Murschamp said.
South Carolina (7-3, 5-3) was the better team, but it made enough mistakes to keep UF in the game.
During one eight-play sequence in the first quarter, the teams combined for two interceptions, two lost fumbles, two penalties and two sacks.
By then, South Carolina held a 7-0 lead after a drive that proved inexperience on offense — a common theme this season with the Gators — is not an excuse.
Runs of 26 and 27 yards by sophomore tailback A.J. Turner and a diving, 23-yard catch by freshman receiver Shi Smith on a perfect throw from sophomore Jake Bentley highlighted a seven-play, 74-yard drive on the Gamecocks’ first possession.
By game’s end, UF had yielded 22 plays of 10 yards or longer and a season-high 469 yards to an offense ranked 12th in the SEC.
The Gators did force four takeaways, but even those ended in frustration.
UF freshman C.J. Henderson intercepted a pass during the first quarter and headed toward the end zone, but he fumbled while stretching for his third picksix of the season.
On South Carolina’s next series, safety Chauncey Gardner intercepted a pass at the goal line and was in the clear until a shoestring tackle by Gamecocks tight end Jacob August at the UF 47.
Soon after starting quarterback Malik Zaire got the offense moving, his season likely ended. Zaire injured his left knee on a 23-yard run to South Carolina’s 14. Zaire returned for one play, collapsed and spent the rest of the game wearing a left knee brace.
No matter who is under center or on the sideline, no one can save the Gators’ season. But Reese said whoever comes in to clean up the mess will find a team ready to turn things around.
“It’s been a bumpy path,” he said. “But we just have to step up and do what’s right for the program. We’ve just got to be Gators.