Ward unhappy with points allowed in red-zone stands
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Gamecock defense held Florida to 29 total yards on 26 plays and just 13 rushing yards in the first half Saturday.
Yet even after such a statistically dominant defensive performance, the Gators led 21-6 at the half.
Three turnovers, one by junior quarterback Connor Shaw and two by the USC special teams, gave the Gators the ball with good field position and led to all three first-half Florida touchdowns.
But while the turnovers put the Gamecock defense in a tough spot, defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said his unit should still have held the Gators out of the end zone more in the 44-11 defeat.
“No matter what the situation is in the ballgame — there’s going to be turnovers, that’s the nature of the game — (but) I expect when they get the ball in my territory, (we should) at least hold them to a field goal,” Ward said. He added that Florida put “too many points on the board” for the defense to be satisfied with the outing.
Although the Gators started drives inside the Gamecock 2-yard line twice in the first half because of the fumble, Ward expected better of his defense.
“Gotta defend (the end zone),” Ward said. “That’s the nature of the game. We need to bow our necks and try and get a negative play.”
Asked whether expecting his players to defend such a short field is fair, Ward responded, “Life’s not fair.”
For the Gamecock defense, it ultimately came apart in the third quarter. On its first offensive drive of the second half, UF more than doubled its yardage from the first half. The drive culminated in Omarius Hines’ 6-yard touchdown run that effectively sealed the Gamecocks’ fate.
The Gators ended the quarter with 133 yards.
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney couldn’t put a finger on what changed after halftime.
“They came out running different ... I can’t even tell you,” Clowney said. “I guess the game just started changing, I don’t know.”
Despite the second-half letdown, the Gamecock defense still was able to hold the Gators to 183 yards of offense in the game, while the USC offense put up 191 yards. However, it was the turnovers that ultimately cost USC the game and spoiled a good defensive effort.
“It’s hard because they are out there giving it their all, and we’re trying to get something going on offense and it’s just not clicking,” junior tailback Marcus Lattimore said of the defense. “We really appreciate our defense and it’s tough, but they’re going to hang with us and continue to be our strength if we need them to.”
For the second week in a row, USC had trouble with its third-down defense, allowing the Gators to convert 7-of-16 third-down tries after allowing LSU to convert 11-of-19 last week.
UF’s Trey Burton was particularly deadly on third downs with his ability to break tackles and keep drives alive.
“We knew they were going to throw the ball to the (first down) sticks, and we just have to play more aggressive,” Ward said. “We were in position to make plays, and in a couple of third downs, [Burton] just broke tackles, and we have to make tackles in those situations.”
Despite two consecutive losses that severely damaged the Gamecocks’ chances of winning the SEC East, Ward still expects his unit to continue fighting.
“It’s called character,” Ward said. “We are not going to throw the season away because we lost two games in a row. We still have a long season, we still have a good football team, we still have good football players. We just have to go to work and fix what we’re doing wrong, and I fully expect these young men to come out and play against Tennessee the way that they played for most of the day (against UF), especially on defense.”
Injury Report: The 44-11 defeat wasn’t the only thing that went wrong for the Gamecocks on Saturday. Freshman safety T.J. Gurley left the game after the first quarter with a knee injury, and coach Steve Spurrier said that Gurley “may have torn a ligament and may have to have surgery.” In his Sunday teleconference, Spurrier confirmed that Gurley will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn knee ligament.
Spurrier added that Lattimore had limited touches because once the score got out of hand, he did not want to risk an injury. Lattimore will start against Tennessee.