Florida Gators at South Carolina Gamecocks (+17.5, 42.5)
Line movement
The game opened up at -15 in favor of the Gators, dropped to 14.5 early at a lot of books and has since cruised upwards to 17.5, where the line currently stands. The total has held steady in the 43 to 42.5 points range.
Weather
The conditions will be ideal with temperatures in the mid-70s.
Injuries
Florida starting linebacker Brandon Hicks is questionable with a hamstring injury. South Carolina’s defense is suffering with safety Chris Culliver (shoulder) and defensive linemen Cliff Matthews (shoulder) and Devin Taylor (sternum) all questionable.
Gators trying not to look ahead
Despite the flurry of bad press surrounding the wishy-washy suspension of linebacker Brandon Spikes last week, the constant wear and tear of the SEC and the impending conference title game rematch with Alabama, Florida head coach Urban Meyer insists his team is still focused on the regular season.
“It’s been the year of stuff,” Meyer said. “What does stuff do to bad families? It rips them apart. Bad teams? It rips them apart. What’s it do to solid teams and solid families? It gets them a little closer. I’m proud to say this is a very solid family, a very solid team.”
That solidarity was not overly apparent last week against SEC bottom-feeder Vanderbilt. Although they won 27-3, the Gators (9-0 SU, 4-4 ATS) sputtered on offense.
Florida racked up 375 yards, but converted just 4-of-13 (31 percent) third-down attempts in the victory over the Commodores. Compare that to 7-of-13 against a more competitive Georgia football team on Oct. 31 in which the Gators scored 41 points on just 374 yards of total offense.
"You'd like to put the ball in the end zone more and not kick field goals," said Tim Tebow after the Vanderbilt game.
The under is 6-2 this season for Florida.
Spurrier spurned by his offense
Over the last two seasons, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has handed over much of the play-calling duties on offense to his son, Steve Spurrier, Jr. But with the Gamecocks (6-4 SU, 5-5 ATS) looking down the barrel of another frustrating finish, the Ole Ball Coach is looking to reassume control.
Citing last week’s 33-16 lackluster loss to Arkansas, Spurrier feels the team is too conservative on offense and thinks his influence may help avoid a late slide like past seasons, in which South Carolina lost three straight and five straight in 2007.
“I call most of the plays and I may be the principle playcaller now with suggestions from the other coaches,” Spurrier said. “That’s about how we’ve been doing it.”
The Gamecocks have lost two straight, rushing for a total of just 118 yards combined in the two losses. They are also 1-5 ATS in their last six games (3-3 SU).
Swampy series
Steve Spurrier has not fared well in recent years against his former Gators squad since joining South Carolina in 2005. Florida has hung 50-plus points on the Gamecocks the last two seasons, easily winning both contests.
In 2006, Florida survived a 17-16 scare and South Carolina won 30-23 in Spurrier’s first year in Columbia.
Overall, since Spurrier’s arrival, South Carolina is 1-3 SU against Florida and has gone 2-2 ATS. In Columbia, the Gamecocks are 1-1 both SU and ATS versus the Gators since 2005.
Trends
Gators are 11-1 ATS in their last twelve road games.
Gamecocks are 1-4 ATS in their last five conference games.
The over is 4-1 in the last five meetings between these two teams.