Florida 24, South Carolina 14: Five things we learned

Florida entered the game 109th among FBS teams in red zone conversion percentage. Last week against Vanderbilt, it started seven drives in Commodores' territory and scored just nine total points.

Things went a lot better for the Gators early. They scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions. But after Harris threw a pick in the end zone to finish the first half, Florida sputtered in South Carolina territory. 

Harris was intercepted near midfield early in the second half, then a 12-play, 70-yard drive ended in a field goal. Florida couldn't convert on fourth-and-1 from the South Carolina 32-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Gators did get a monster play from Kelvin Taylor late in the fourth quarter — he picked up 53 yards on a third-and-8 draw play from his own 46-yard line that set up a game-sealing touchdown. Had he not, South Carolina would have gotten the ball back with about two minutes left and a chance to tie the game or take the lead.

Even in last week's sluggish effort against Vanderbilt, no one questioned Florida's defense, which entered this weekend allowing 4.3 yards per play (seventh in FBS). And for most of Saturday's game, there was no reason to question anything Florida did on that side of the ball.

But the Gators eased up with a 17-0 lead in the fourth quarter, allowing South Carolina to string together an 8-play, 64-yard drive and a 5-play, 79-yard drive to make it a game. The second ended with a 38-yard touchdown catch by Pharoh Cooper.

The Gamecocks amassed just 201 total yards and had just two other drives go for more than five yards. They had six three-and-outs and converted 3 of 10 third downs. At face value, the Gators played an excellent game defensively, but they couldn't afford a let down like that in the fourth quarter when the offense hadn't done much all day.

Treon Harris threw two interceptions, but there could have been a handful more, and the first one came at a bad time.

Florida could have extended its lead to three scores as time wound down in the first half, but Harris telegraphed a pass that T.J. Gurley picked off and South Carolina kept the deficit at 14 points.

Early in the second half, he was blindsided in the pocket — he should've rolled out — and got intercepted as the ball came loose.

Harris finished the day 18 of 32 for 246 yards with one touchdown and two picks.

The lone bright spot in an otherwise forgettable season in Columbia has been star receiver Pharoh Cooper, who once again did a little of everything for the Gamecocks.

Cooper had three catches for 44 yards with a touchdown, three carries for 16 yards and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Perry Orth to SC on the board in the fourth quarter.

Cooper entered the game with 48 catches for 656 yards and five touchdowns despite a turbulent quarterback situation.

Jake McGee isn't going to light up any box scores, but once again made himself a reliable target that Harris will need going forward. 

The tight end who played two years at Virginia before sitting out 2014 finished with five receptions for 45 yards, including one on third down that setup a fourth down conversion. 

He entered the game with 26 catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns.