Shaw goes to bench while South Carolina goes down

• Spurrier questions whether Shaw "got hit in the head"
• Quarterback fumbles on first play, later replaced
• South Carolina eliminated from SEC title consideration

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --One week your coach quips that your play was so bad you might've been concussed. The next week, you're the butt of a joke of a game, and your butt lands on the bench.

Saturday started terribly for junior quarterback Connor Shaw and the South Carolina Gamecocks. After being sacked and stripped of the football on the first play from scrimmage, Shaw was benched at halftime of an eventual 44-11 Florida victory.

Sophomore Dylan Thompson took charge of the eighth-ranked Gamecocks, trailing No. 4 Florida, 21-6. The backup fared no better, leaving Spurrier annoyed and evasive in postgame comments.

"We'll reevaluate," Spurrier said. "Maybe we just need to say, 'Hey, we can't throw the ball anymore.' "

The coach said he didn't know who his starter would be next week against Tennessee. A potential QB switch comes a week after Spurrier said he was irritated by Shaw's "confused" play during a 23-21 loss to LSU. He threw two interceptions in South Carolina's first loss of the season.

"I don't know if he got hit in the head tonight or not," Spurrier said, "because some of his decision making was a little off."

Shaw answered his coach's criticism by going 9-for-20 passing for 72 yards Saturday at The Swamp. But the fumble was the game-changer. Florida's Loucheiz Purifoy came clean off the right edge and the right-handed Shaw stepped up to avoid the charging defensive back. Purifoy reached and slapped the ball from Shaw's grasp, Florida recovered, and the rout was on.

Said Shaw: "They brought the corner blitz. I never saw it. The guy made a good play and swiped it out of my hands. I just wasn't getting the job done."

Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd said Shaw was henceforth shaken.

"On that first play I felt as though we did get into Shaw's head," Floyd said. "It was a great play and we capitalized on it. We knew he was out of the game."

So after two road games in two of college football's toughest places to play, the Gamecocks (6-2, 4-2) are mathematically eliminated from contending for the SEC title, they'll likely fall out of the top 10, and Shaw could be out of a starting job.

He has played through a slight fracture in his throwing shoulder, suffered in the season's first week. Shaw aggravated the injury Sept. 15 but didn't miss a game, passing for 982 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions before halftime Saturday. At first glance, his backup played even worse, completing eight of 20 passes with an interception thrown into heavy coverage which had Spurrier grimacing and covering his face with a playsheet on the sidelines.

Quarterbacking isn't exactly the focal point of South Carolina's attack, as it was in previous Spurrier offenses. Since Shaw became a starter after Stephen Garcia was dismissed last October, South Carolina has averaged 22.9 pass attempts per game. Spurrier's Florida teams averaged 38.7 passes per game from 1993-2001.

Instead of airing it out, Spurrier has put the ball in the hands of junior running back Marcus Lattimore. But Lattimore was unable to start vs. Florida due to a bruised hip, and carried just three times for 13 yards. The team managed 36 yards rushing on 26 carries with Kenny Miles and Mike Davis splitting carries.

"It hurts when you don't establish the running game early, especially for us," said Shaw, dejected after the loss.

"We have a lot to play for. We're going to find out a lot about the character on this team."

Contributing: Dan Wolken