COLUMBIA, S.C. -- No. 9 Florida found a way to win on Saturday, beating South Carolina 38-27.

With the win UF remains in the driver's seat for the SEC East after the victory over the Gamecocks.

What did we learn from the win?

Gators are resilient

It was not a pretty win. Dan Mullen's side played sloppy in the first half and needed a big fourth quarter to secure the win over South Carolina. Florida just held on to the rope.

This was a game that Florida teams of the past may have lost. This is a game the Gators needed to win to demonstrate that the program is on the right track.

UF outscored South Carolina 21-7 in the fourth quarter. They never gave up or let a bad drive hurt them on the ensuing play.

This has been Florida's M.O. this season. The Gators have outscored their opponents 85-21 in the fourth quarter, 147-55 in the second half.

The run game is coming along

Florida had its best outing against a FBS opponent on the ground in the win. The Gators netted 154 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

Dameon Pierce led the team on the ground with 89 yards and one touchdown on seven attempts - his 75-yard touchdown seemed to be the spark the team needed to come back and win.

The offensive line did better in run blocking with Brett Heggie making the crucial block in the Pierce touchdown mentioned above. The running lanes were there and UF started to take advantage.

Hello Jacob Copeland

We have known about Kyle Pitts' threat in the air, although he could improve his run blocking, but this weekend it was about another pass catcher and his coming out party.

Jacob Copeland had himself a night, leading the team with 89 yards and one touchdown.

Mullen told reporters that Copeland took huge strides the past two weeks in practice and it showed on game day.

Linebackers need to take steps forward

South Carolina had its way on the ground against Florida. The Gamecocks ran the ball for 217 yards, 147 coming in the first half. Those 217 yards is the most rushing yards the UF defense has yielded this season.

Not only did South Carolina run the ball well, they ran the ball for big, explosive plays - something that LSU did as well. The Gamecocks managed six runs of 10 yards or more, three of them picking up more than 20 yards, and two of them picking up just under 40 yards a piece - a 37-yard rush and a 36-yard rush respectively.

A lot of the blame can be placed on the linebackers, who were not in their gaps and were often out of position.

Prior to this weekend, Georgia averaged 237 yards per game, which ranks them No. 16 in the country. On Saturday, the Bulldogs rushed for 235 yards against Kentucky.

The linebackers need to step up before the big SEC East matchup in two weeks.

The young defensive linemen stepping up for the injured Gators

Florida's youngsters are making an impact. It is no secret that the Gators are missing Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga, however, the good news is that the younger UF players are starting to step up.

In addition to Zach Carter, who had a strip sack which led to Kyree Campbell pouncing on the fumble, Moahamoud Diabate and Khris Bogle both contributed.

Welcomed Bye Week

Although the young Gators are stepping up, UF is grateful to be going into the bye week. Mullen's team is banged up and would look to use this week to recover.

Mullen is optimistic about both Zuniga and Greenard. He expects both of them to return in two weeks against UGA.

But it's not just the bodies that need to recover. Florida showed some mental fatigue this weekend, with some players making uncharacteristic mistakes.

Evan McPherson is Mr. Consistent

The Gators kicker connected on a 48-yard field goal on Saturday and is now 25-of-28 in his career (26 since the Kentucky kick last season was good...).

He has connected on 80 straight PATs which is the fourth longest streak in school history. He needs two more to surpass Judd Davis in third place.