Florida Football: 3 reasons the Gators will beat South Carolina in Week 8

2. Kyle Trask and Emory Jones will protect the ball

Kyle Trask had his best performance against LSU, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns to only one interception. It was a near-perfect performance for the new Gator quarterback, leaving now worries about him replacing Feleipe Franks.

While Fromm struggled, coming into the game against South Carolina with zero interceptions, to only throw three, it seems like Trask is starting to peak at the right time and get comfortable in the offense.

South Carolina has some athletic players in the secondary, including Israel Mukuamu, who had all three interceptions, seven tackles and a defensive touchdown in the game against Georgia. His performance means Trask will have to key in on where he is always.

For Trask, outside of the Tennessee game he’s done a good job of avoiding interceptions. He threw one in the back of the end zone to Derek Stingley last week, but for the most part was very impressive in a hostile environment. You could tell as soon as he threw the ball that he wanted that interception back, and I think he’ll play a clean game this week.

In addition to Trask, Florida head coach Dan Mullen wasn’t afraid of using backup Emory Jones in big plays for the wildcat sets. It’s an impressive wildcat where Jones is also a threat to throw downfield, as he very nearly found Kyle Pitts for a touchdown against LSU. I think he gets more opportunities in this game, as Mullen continues to try to find a balance on offense.

The Gamecocks offense, meanwhile, is not very impressive. They struggled to move the ball against Georgia, especially when Hilinski got hurt and were able to take advantage of short fields and their defense doing a tremendous job. If at the very least Florida can play smart, clean football, and win the field position battle, that puts them in a great position to win the game.