{"id":424453,"date":"2026-10-10T21:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/424453\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T21:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:54:10","slug":"no-16-gators-suffer-homecoming-loss-to-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/424453\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 16 Gators suffer homecoming loss to South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE \u2014 Florida\u2019s homecoming game<\/a> was anything but a celebration, ending with a half-empty stadium and a crushing loss to underdog South Carolina, a team that was riding an eight-game SEC losing streak.<\/p>\n

During Saturday\u2019s 38-19 defeat by the Gamecocks, the Gators\u2019 vaunted run game deserted them for the second straight week while their season-long defensive struggles continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m frustrated with every part of what we did today. It starts with me,\u201d coach Jon Sumrall said. \u201cSo, so many things to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans ushered the Gators off the field at halftime with a chorus of boos after Sumrall and his staff mismanaged the clock akin to Billy Napier\u2019s mishaps during the previous four seasons.<\/p>\n

Disgusted Florida faithful eventually flooded the exits after South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers found backup tailback Jabree Coleman wide open for a 21-yard touchdown with 8:07 remaining.<\/p>\n

Sellers\u2019 fourth scoring pass of the day was his most since a five-touchdown day against Missouri in November of 2024, back when the Gamecocks\u2019 star was considered a potential top-10 NFL pick. Against the Gators\u2019 defense, the 6-foot-3, 238-pound senior looked the part again.<\/p>\n

Sellers and the Gamecocks were unstoppable while scoring 21 unanswered points after Patrick Durkin\u2019s 48-yard field goal cut the lead to 17-13 on Florida\u2019s opening possession of the second half after a 45-minute lightning delay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wore down a little bit on really in all phases,\u201d Sumrall said.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s offense, one of the nation\u2019s best in September, couldn\u2019t keep up for the second straight week in October.<\/p>\n

Looking to rebound<\/a> from last weekend\u2019s ugly 45-17 loss at Missouri<\/a>, the Gators (4-2, 2-2 SEC) now find themselves in a deep hole with a visit to No. 1 Texas next and an Oct. 31 trip to Atlanta to face No. 2 Georgia.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida quarterback Aaron Philo committed two turnovers and had one touchdown pass during the Gators’ 38-19 homecoming loss to South Carolina on Saturday in the Swamp. (James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, embattled coach Shane Beamer and South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) picked up their first win the Swamp since 2014 under Steve Spurrier and first conference victory since beating Kentucky 35-13 on Sept. 27, 2025.<\/p>\n

During the two-year skid, the Gamecocks struggled to close out games, squandering leads \u2014 four of them eight points or more \u2014\u00a0 during their past five SEC losses.<\/p>\n

Against Florida, South Carolina built an 18-point cushion by the end of the third quarter. The Gamecocks effectively ended any hopes of a Gators\u2019 comeback when star defensive end Dylan Stewart \u2014 back from a one-game suspension for fighting \u2014 forced a fumble by quarterback Aaron Philo with 12:58 to go.<\/p>\n

The miscue was one of three Florida turnovers, including a Philo interception by veteran cornerback Vicari Swain, who returned the ball to the Florida 26 to set up Sellers\u2019 12-yard touchdown pass for Mazeo Bennett Jr. for the go-ahead score, at 17-10.<\/p>\n

Early on, the Gators appeared ready to put the Missouri loss behind them. On Florida\u2019s second possession, Philo found Bailey Stockton in space on a well-designed play that turned a third-and-six into a 59-yard score for a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n

But as a week earlier, Florida struggled to run the ball and the defense was a sieve.<\/p>\n

Jadan Baugh, the SEC\u2019s leading rusher, finished with just 59 yards and had one run longer than 10 yards as the Gators managed just 120 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

The Gamecocks converted 10 of 16 third downs, going three-of-three during their first touchdown drive ending with Sellers\u2019 15-yard touchdown to star receiver Nyck Harbor in the corner of the end zone on third-and-10.<\/p>\n

Sellers finished 23-of-35 for 279 yards while Harbor caught four passes for 83 yards.<\/p>\n

Stockton was a rare bright spot on a dreary day in Gainesville, catching eight passes for 127 yards as Philo, his former high school teammate in Georgia, threw for 227 yards on 21-of-28 passing.<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida head coach Jon Sumrall looks on as the No. 16 Gators dropped their second straight game with a homecoming loss to South Carolina on Saturday in the Swamp. (James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE \u2014 Florida\u2019s homecoming game was anything but a celebration, ending with a half-empty stadium and a crushing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,2530,2496,114,139,141,140,76046,110],"class_list":["post-424453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-florida-gators","tag-gainesville","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}