COLUMBIA, S.C. - With 1:37 left, Andre Caldwell leaped up, came down with the ball in the end zone and grinned while pointing to the remaining patch of Gators fans.
His quarterback, Tim Tebow, had just finished his night with seven touchdowns.
Even with no Percy Harvin, who was back in Gainesville sick with a sinus infection and migraines, UF (7-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) had no problems offensively Saturday night in a 51-31 crushing of South Carolina.
"We're just not that good," Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said. "The other team toyed with us.
"If we played them 10 times, they'd probably beat us 10 times. We got problems stopping a lot of stuff. We got our butts kicked."
Tebow had the best night of his young career, finishing with five rushing touchdowns, good for a single-season record 19 on the year. He also passed former Gators quarterback Danny Wuerffel to break UF's single-season touchdown record at 42. Tebow finished with 304 yards through the air and 120 on the ground.
When asked about Tebow's performance, Spurrier was embarrassed.
"Don't get me bragging on the other team's players," he said. "I've got enough problems worrying about stopping the third down and making one right now. Tim Tebow is an excellent player, we all know that."
While Tebow was spectacular, he wasn't alone. Caldwell more than made up for the absence of Harvin, finishing with 148 receiving yards and a score.
"I had to pick up a lot more extra slack," Caldwell said. "That's not expected, coming into somebody's house and just whopping them like that. They're probably in shock."
After South Carolina fumbled the opening snap, linebacker Brandon Spikes quickly jumped on it to set up a quick UF touchdown.
Spikes finished with 13 tackles and two fumble recoveries, and Meyer named him the defensive player of the game Monday.
"We just wanted to make plays and get off the field on third down," Spikes said. "I think we did that, got them in long situations."
Running back Brandon James had the most playing time of his career on offense. James, who normally has his biggest impact on the return game, had 10 carries with Harvin out.
While he picked up just 49 yards and fumbled once, he provided a speedy changeup to Tebow's bruising running style.
"Other than the turnover, he played a fine game for us," Meyer said.
Already leading 27-14 at halftime, the Gators came out and wasted no time landing a killing blow on the Gamecocks.
On the first play of the second half, Tebow laced a short pass to freshman tight end Aaron Hernandez. Hernandez took it 55 yards to the South Carolina 25-yard line to set up one of Tebow's rushing scores.
"It was a great team win on the road in the SEC," Meyer said. "We look forward to going home and finishing our season there."
