Series history - Florida

In this series, GamecockAnthem takes a look at the series history of each of the opponents in the 2012 season. Today we take a look at South Carolina's second huge road contest with Florida

Series history – Florida leads 23-6-3
Last 10 meetings – Florida leads 7-4
Under Spurrier – Florida leads 4-3
Largest margin of victory – Florida 63-7 in 1995
Closest margin of victory – Florida 17-16 in 2006
Last game – South Carolina 17-12

To say that the Florida Gators have dominated South Carolina is an understatement. The two teams battled to a 6-6 tie in the first ever meeting in Columbia in 1911 and would split the next two seasons with each team winning on their home turf. From that point on it was all Florida. The Gators would win 18 of the next 22 games with two ties. The Gamecocks managed two home wins in 1936 and 1937.

It got particularly ugly when Carolina joined the SEC in 1992. Steve Spurrier and the Gators often had field days against the Gamecocks with the likes of a 63-7 win in 1995 and 52-25 win the following year.

When Spurrier switched sides, the tides began to slowly turn. Carolina shocked Florida with a 30-22 win in Spurrier’s first season, the first win since 1939. The Gators would win the next four, including a 56-6 win in 2008, the biggest defeat in the Spurrier era. Carolina nearly knocked off Tim Tebow and #1 Florida in 2009, falling 24-14 to the Gators. Carolina has won the last two meetings with Florida, including the first ever win in Gainesville in 2010 and will look to even Spurrier’s record this season at 4-4.

Last time out – The 2011 meeting between Carolina and Florida was everything but memorable. Neither offense was able to accomplish much, but Carolina held on for a 17-12 win. Carolina would just must 299 yards of offense, but a 120-yard rushing performance from Brandon Wilds and a pair of Connor Shaw touchdown runs in the second quarter gave the Gamecock defense all it would need as they held the Gators to just 261 yards of offense.

Most memorable moment – There are several memorable moments in this series. In 2000 South Carolina blocked two first half punts for touchdowns to build a quick 21-3 lead in Gainesville, but the Gators would score 38 unanswered points in a 41-21 win.

You would be hard-pressed to find a Gamecock fan that doesn’t remember that 2005 game. In Spurrier’s first season, two weeks after knocking off Tennessee in Knoxville for the first time in school history, Carolina was able to come up with that 30-22 win that had some Gamecock fans in their seats an hour after the game had ended.

A blocked field goal in 2006 kept Florida’s National Championship season intact in a 17-16 win, but that was not the most memorable moment in “the Swamp.”

In 2010 Carolina visited Gainesville with the SEC East on the line. It was pretty simple; win and you are heading to Atlanta. Lose and you will be watching the SEC Championship game from home. Florida would take the opening kick to the house, but it would be all Marcus Lattimore from there. The true freshman running back rushed for 212 yards and three touchdowns as Carolina cruised to a 36-14 win and their first SEC East Championship.

Key to the game – Florida is going to be tough on the defensive side of the ball, a trademark of head coach Will Muschamp. However, offensively they are going to struggle scoring points. If they can get production out of their offense they are going to be tough for anyone to beat. Until that happens all the Gamecocks will need to do is put points on the board to beat Florida.