Interception sends USC to third straight defeat

COLUMBIA -- For three quarters Saturday, South Carolina played some of its finest football of the season.

And it didn't matter after the first play of the fourth quarter.

A deflected interception and a long return set up No. 1 Florida's game-sealing touchdown in a 24-14 struggle with the Gamecocks in front of 79,297 fans at sun- kissed Williams-Brice Stadium.

"The one play seemed to doom us," said South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, coaching for the fifth time against his alma mater.

With the Gamecocks down three,

they sustained a 10-play drive to the Florida 22-yard line.

The third quarter ended with USC facing third down and 3 yards for a first down.

Williams-Brice was rocking to 2001. Momentum was squarely in the Gamecocks' corner.

All was right in South Carolina's world.

"There was no doubt in my mind we were going to score," said tight end Weslye Saunders, who had a team-high 62 receiving yards and a touchdown.

But, in one play, South Carolina went from upset -- to upset.

"You try to keep your head up," Saunders said of the interception, "but my heart dropped."

The play called during the break was a slant to Jason Barnes on the right side of the field.

But quarterback Stephen Garcia thought he'd seen a weakness in the Florida defense. He made up in his mind he was going to Moe Brown, who had motioned from out wide to the right to the left slot.

"That was not exactly what we were trying to do," Spurrier said. "We talked about it on the sideline, got the exact coverage we wanted for the play. But we chose to throw it to the other side."

Brown ran what he thought was a decoy slant, turning his head just in time for the sharply thrown ball to glance off his hands and helmet and float into the air.

Florida lineman Justin Trattou's arms were waiting. Trattou followed a wall of blockers down the sideline to the South Carolina 26.

"For us to win, we needed to play without those kinds of plays happening," Spurrier said.

Tim Tebow punched in a touchdown four plays later for Florida (10-0, 8-0 SEC), effectively knocking out the stubborn Gamecocks (6-5, 3-5).

South Carolina had 206 total yards at halftime and 263 through three quarters against the vaunted Florida defense.

"They're supposed to have this mighty defense," said an emotional Brown, "and we moved the ball on them."

After that interception, Florida's defensive front surged and South Carolina's offense wilted.

"We just got overpowered in the fourth quarter," Spurrier said. "We just started going backward."

The Gamecocks lost 16 yards in the final quarter. Four of the six Gators' sacks came in that period, some the line's fault and some Garcia's.

Garcia was intercepted again late. By then, it didn't matter.

The game was decided on the first play of the quarter, after all.

"It was very hard for the team to regroup after that," Garcia said.

Brown was almost in tears afterward, partly blaming himself for the critical turnover.

"I'm sick right now," he said. "This one hurts bad. I'm somewhat responsible for the play that ended the game."

As well as they competed for 45 minutes, the bottom line is the Gamecocks have still dropped three in a row.

After the long-awaited bye week, South Carolina hosts Clemson on Nov. 28 in what Garcia repeatedly called "a must-win game."

Meanwhile, again, it wasn't exactly a convincing win for the nation's purported best team.

"We did not play perfect, obviously," Gators coach Urban Meyer said. "But I'm not sure we have played perfect in quite a while."

South Carolina would settle for a lot less than perfect. Actually, it probably just wants one play back.

"It would've been fun," Spurrier said, "to see what would've happened."

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.