Tale of the Tape: How Florida’s offense excelled vs. USC on third downs

Had the Gamecocks needed only two downs to force a punt Saturday against Florida, things might have gone OK.

The average first-down play for Florida yielded just short of five yards, not great but not a killer. The average second down produced about 5.2 yards. On third down, when Florida was in theory in its tightest spot: 12.35.

“Not executing, not making a play,” Gamecocks co-defensive coordinator Jon Hoke said of the third-down performance. “We tried about everything. We pressured. We played zone, we played man. We had a tough time putting pressure on the quarterback whether we blitzed him, whether we zone blitzed him, whether we man blitzed him or whether we rushed with for. We were inconsistent.”

That’s a killer, but a review of stats and film show pressure wasn’t the only cause, primarily because Florida showed patience in setting up advantageous third-down spots.

Ten of the Gators’ 19 third downs came with five yards or fewer to go, often because of second-down plays that gained a few yards. Florida converted seven of those, and another was an inside run that setup fourth and one (Florida got it and scored a touchdown).

With seven or more yards to go, Florida went 4-for-9, a rate better than the situation should indicate, and each of the conversions were particularly problematic.

On a first-quarter third and 11, Florida threw a screen against a zone blitz and the defensive lineman who dropped into coverage was cleared by a blocker. On third and eighth near the goal line, South Carolina sent a big blitz and Treon Harris hit a slant with the underneath vacated.

The Gators’ second touchdown came on third and long when Harris forced a ball into coverage and Chris Lammons all but intercepted it. Instead, Jordan Cronkrite ripped the ball away for a 41-yard touchdown.

The last long conversion came on a give-up play when it seemed the Gators were ready to run clock. They sent Kelvin Taylor to the right on a power run, and with the Gamecocks flowing to the football, a seam opened on the backside. Linebacker Skai Moore was nearly there, but a lineman came off a double team to occupy him. Taylor already had the first dawn when safety Jordan Diggs’ headlong attempt to cut out the runner’s legs missed, and he had a 53-yard game-sealing run.

The Gamecocks’ third-down defenses varied by situation. Four blitzes produced three conversions and one breakup. Showing pressure and backing off didn’t yield much. Overall, South Carolina sent extra rushers on more than half of Florida’s dropbacks or draws, but two of the three sacks came on four-man rushes.

What stood out as most detrimental to South Carolina was cornerback play. When the Gamecocks got stops, corners were making up ground, closing holes in zones and recovering to make tackles for short gains.

Florida is deep with fast, strong defensive backs. On Perry Orth’s two interceptions, corners drove hard to cut past waiting receivers on the sort of hitch and in routes that have hurt USC all year. The Gators also have line talent good enough that they only sent extra rushers on one of five dropbacks and still harassed and hammered the Gamecocks.

Off(ense) the schnide

The Gamecocks’ attack produced 44 yards across three quarters and 157 in the final stanza. The main difference: offensive line play and separation in the secondary (helped by getting time by line play).

Two of South Carolina’s four longest runs came in the fourth quarter on bread-and-butter zone read plays (six and eight yards). That the Gamecocks couldn’t take one of those longer than two yards most of the game is an indicator of success up front.

Outside those, the late production came down to five plays: receiver Matrick Belton shaking loose on a post, tight end Jerell Adams busting tackles on a hitch and later beating triple coverage, wide receiver Pharoh Cooper taking advantage of a safety’s mistake and a throwback pass to quarterback Perry Orth on a trick play.

The Gamecocks broke out the same amount of wrinkles as in recent weeks, but for the most part, they didn’t work. Cooper got snaps at QB (accounting for two of the team’s longest runs of the day), the staff rolled out the three-back heavy package, tried a reverse, but for the most part they didn’t add much.

The spins

It seemed uncharacteristic of Orth to draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spinning the ball on his touchdown reception, but on further review, it was easy to see why it was called.

After crossing the goal line, his elbow did pop out so even dropping the ball would look like a spin. For what it’s worth, the spin was not emphatic and looked a little awkward.

On the island

Belton had himself a solid day with two catches — a slant where he got belted and the late deep post — for 33 yards. It was a nice followup to a 34-yard day against Tennessee, but imagine what it could have been had he been able to come up for air more often.

Much of the day, Belton had Vernon Hargreaves III, probably the best cover corner in the SEC and a possible top-10 draft pick, locked on him in press coverage. Hargreaves had only one tackle, but South Carolina almost never threw his way.

Florida left him on the left side of the defense most of the day. He wasn’t always in tight press coverage, often playing way off, and was still an effective deterrent. He was only locked onto Cooper for around five plays, mostly runs. On one, he followed Cooper into the flat, opening a slant Brandon Wilds dropped.

It turned out, Hargreaves didn’t need to be locked on Cooper to slow him. The prolific junior had only three catches, the touchdown and two short routes in the flat. He was targeted two other times, with a drop on a skinny post and a drop after getting belted on a screen. On average, is the target of around 32.6 percent of the team’s throws but that went down to around 20.

BAW impact

Linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams didn’t see many snaps against Florida, but he made the most of his chances.

Playing in the Gamecocks’ short-yardage/goal line package, he made two key tackles for loss and nearly had two more. He was in the backfield on two fourth-and-1 plays, but on one, the runner barely pushed past the line, and on the other, a tight end showed good awareness, peeling off at the last second to knock him off path.