Gamecocks drop third straight

South Carolina followed what has become a frustratingly monotonous script Saturday – hang around, have some hope and then fall short. This time the opponent was Florida, which won 24-14 to hand the Gamecocks their third straight loss and fifth in six games.

“Kind of the story of our football team the last two weeks,” interim coach Shawn Elliott said.

The loss guaranteed South Carolina (3-7, 1-7 SEC) its first losing season since 2003, and even that season the Gamecocks won two conference games. This year’s lone SEC win is the fewest since the winless season of 1999.

The Gamecocks trailed 17-0 midway through the fourth quarter before an unlikely offensive flurry pulled them to within three points. Perry Orth threw to a 38-yard touchdown pass to Pharoh Cooper with 4:49 left in the game to make the score 17-14 in Florida’s favor. Cooper threw a 17-yard scoring pass to Orth for South Carolina’s first points of the game, which came with 8:59 left.

Even with the late offensive flurry, the Gamecocks totaled only 180 yards, their lowest total since a 201-yard effort in 2012. Florida finished with 404 yards.

“There are a lot of (defensive) guys over there that are going to play a long time at the next level,” Elliott said.

Florida put the game away on its final possession with a 53-yard rush by Kelvin Taylor on third-and-eight that set up the decisive touchdown one play later.

TURNING POINT

Florida quarterback Treon Harris gave the Gamecocks a golden opportunity when he heaved a pass up for grabs midway through the second quarter.Cornerback Chris Lammons let an interception slip through his hands and Florida running back Jordan Cronkrite hauled it in for a 41-yard touchdown that put the Gators up 14-0 with 8:17 remaining in the second quarter.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: In a game that didn’t feature many highlights, Harris did enough to stand out, finishing with 256 yards on 19-for-33 passing and 36 yards gained rushing.

Play of the game: The lone offensive highlight for the Gamecocks came with 8:59 left in the game when Cooper took a lateral from Orth and then threw back to the quarterback for a 17-yard touchdown that cut their deficit to 17-7. “I just had to put the ball where only he could get it,” said Cooper, a high school quarterback.

Stat of the game: South Carolina had 44 yards on its first eight possessions of the game. Four of those possessions resulted in negative yards. The Gamecocks managed 143 yards on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter to make the game interesting but finished with 21 yards rushing on 23 carries.

OBSERVATIONS

Freshman mistakes: A week after missing a signal while playing quarterback, freshman Lorenzo Nunez again missed a play. This time, he failed to pitch the ball to Cooper on a play designed to be a reverse. Nunez didn’t return to the game, although Elliott said after the game that he considered using Nunez at quarterback in the second half.

New garb: South Carolina debuted its first new helmet design since 2004 when the team wore black helmets. On Saturday, the Gamecocks wore white helmets with a large image of their mascot’s tail feathers, rather than the traditional block C design. “The new helmets, the black jerseys, it was awesome,” Orth said. “The atmosophere was awesome early on. I wish we could have kept it going. We picked it back up late, just too late.”

Disaster down: The Gamecocks defense easily played its best game of the season on first and second down Saturday. However, the Gators converted 11 of 19 third downs on the way to building a 39:56-20:01 advantage in time of possession.

UP NEXT

Who: The Citadel at South Carolina

When: Nov. 21 (Noon)

Where: Williams-Brice Stadium

TV: SECN Alternate

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 3:15 PM.