COLUMBIA, S.C. — On first and 10 from the South Carolina 36-yard line, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow launched a deep ball for Riley Cooper, who beat his cornerback and was streaking toward the end zone.
Cooper couldn't quite run down the pass, and it grazed off his finger tips before falling to the ground.
Three plays later, sophomore kicker Caleb Sturgis missed a 52-yard field goal try, and it was clear that the Gators aren't over their offensive struggles.
“I'm so tired of seeing balls come off finger tips,” UF coach Urban Meyer said. “We all know what's coming down the road and we have to make those.”
What's waiting down the road is a Dec. 5 matchup with Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, and Florida obviously has hopes of making it back to the BCS National Championship Game and trying to defend its title.
For the third time this season, the Gators were held under 25 points by an opponent.
That happened only once last year, in Florida's 24-14 win against Oklahoma in the national championship game.
Tebow and Cooper connected on a 68-yard touchdown and another 30-yard pass in the first quarter, but the Gators failed to make another play longer than 20 yards.
Cooper had another ball slip through his fingers in the end zone from 37 yards out in the third quarter, and Sturgis missed two more field goals.
“They were close and any good receiver has to come down with them,” Cooper said of the missed opportunities.
UF's average starting field position in the second half was the South Carolina 40-yard line, yet all the Gators had to show for their exceptional defensive and special teams efforts were two punts, two missed field goals, a turnover on downs and one touchdown. They scored just seven points in the second half.
“We haven't won by huge margins in games, but we have a lot of character and we pull out wins and that's all you can ask for,” Tebow said. “We just fight until the end. It doesn't always look pretty, but we just keep fighting.”
This is the fifth game this season that Florida has won by 10 points or less.
The Gators have beaten opponents close and are showing they're much more like the 2006 championship team than the 2008 team. In 2006, they won six games by 10 points or less compared to just one last year.
Both of those teams, however, had a loss.
Something this year's squad has not endured.
“We did not play perfect, obviously, I'm not sure we've played perfect in quite a while,” Meyer said. “But I think that's 20 (wins) in a row, and I'm awful proud of those guys in there.”
