Florida football: Gators defense vs. South Carolina’s offense

It could be an interesting matchup this weekend for the Florida football defense against a South Carolina offense that is hit or miss.

It has been a mixed bag offensively for South Carolina. That may be a good thing for Florida football.

Or, it may not.

It all kind of depends on which South Carolina team shows up Saturday when they host No. 9 Florida.

But, you have to take into account the fact that the Gamecocks are playing with true freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski — who has played for injured starter Jake Bentley since the loss to North Carolina to open the season.

Since that first game, the offensive unit has been relatively consistent, with the exception to the injury Hilinski suffered against Georgia last week.

Third-string quarterback Dakereon Joyner stepped and South Carolina knocked off Georgia in double-overtime.

But, recent reports suggest Hilinski will be back and starting against Florida football Saturday.

South Carolina offense

The Gamecocks average just 28.8 points per game and are ranked as the No. 72 total offense in FCS.

In terms of quarterback efficiency, Hilinski has a rating of 123.9, going 103-for-164 with three interceptions and six touchdowns. He’s thrown for 1,028 yards on the season (ranked No. 89 — three places behind Auburn freshman quarterback Bo Nix — nationally).

Florida Gators Football

Hilinski averages a shade over 200 yards passing per game (203.2).

For the record, Florida football quarterback Kyle Trask has an efficiency rating of 161.8 with 10 touchdown passes and three interceptions — in fewer games.

On the receiving end, Bryan Edwards is the Gamecocks’ leading receiver by average — averaging 71 yards per game. He does have four touchdowns and 426 yards on 33 receptions.

But, after that, there’s not another South Carolina receiver ranked in the top 200 nationally — Florida has three (Freddie Swain, Kyle Pitts and Van Jefferson).

The offensive line has been consistent for the season. However, they can be considered a bit “leaky” at times as they average giving up 2.17 sacks per game, which should be a nice change for a Florida football defense who loves to rush into the backfield.

South Carolina quarterbacks have been dropped 13 times this season.

As for running the football, the Gamecocks are led by Rico Dowdle and his 449 yards this season. He is averaging 74.8 yards per game and has four touchdowns.

He also has a pretty competent backup in Tavien Feaster, who transferred from Clemson. Feaster has 57 rushes for 317 yards and three touchdowns.

All-in-all there’s nothing really spectacular about the Gamecocks’ offense. They aren’t blowing anyone out of the water — well, except Charleston Southern but, fun fact, everyone is beating Charleston Southern (1-5 overall) this season.

Florida defense

Under normal circumstances, there wouldn’t be a lot of conversation regarding this match-up because the Florida football defense wins it, hands-down.

However, the wild card this week is the fact that defensive linemen Jonathan Greenard and Jabari Zuniga are currently listed as game-time decisions by the coaching staff.

So, that normal ability to blitz strong from the corners may not be there as much Saturday.

The Gators had some struggles on defense against LSU last week — and I don’t mean in the passing game, I mean upfront.

Jeremiah Moon will do well to fill in for Greenard, if Greenard doesn’t play, but it’s the other side of the line that’s concerning.

Zachary Carter had some trouble with an effective pass rush from the end — filling in for Zuniga — while Luke Ancrum also struggled with filling A gaps to stop the run from the nose position.

The Florida football secondary should have little trouble disrupting South Carolina’s receivers.

In all, even without Zuniga and Greenard, Florida’s defense should be strong enough to hold back South Carolina.

Remember, No. 9 Florida football will take on South Carolina at noon Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.