South Carolina got off the mat twice before. It doesn’t look like it’s going to this time.

Florida leads 24-14 and has the ball at its 46, and USC probably needs a game-changing play. Otherwise, well, you know.

The long interception return, when USC was poised to at least tie the game, is looming as the crushing blow that affected the outcome of this game. The energy of the Gamecock players and fans seem to be sapped.

What the offense needed to do there was respond with a long drive. Problem is, when it was your offense that caused the problem in the first place, that’s asking a lot to come back so quickly.

Even good field position didn’t help. USC started with the ball at its own 40 after the kickoff out of bounds. But two sacks pushed them back into a fourth-and-23.

Look, there’s still 11 minutes left, so you can’t close the book on this one. Far from it.

But this is No. 1 Florida, not Florida International. The margin for error in a game like this is very small, and USC may have reached it.