A six-loss season of frustration, of trying to fit square pegs into round roles, finally came to a head Saturday for Florida and first-year coach Will Muschamp.
After losing to rival Florida State at home for the first time since 2003, Muschamp used the post-game press conference to air his angst with the way the Gators have played in 2011.
He reminded his team that they are soft: “That’s not the first time they’ve heard it. It’s not the first time they’ve heard it all season, I can tell you that. I always say self evaluation’s hard. It starts with me and it falls on my shoulders and I’m the one who’s responsible, but at the end of the day, you are what you are.”
He talked about the team’s inability to run the football: “When you become a one-dimensional team, you’re a lateral running team and you can’t run the ball inside and you can’t run the ball vertically at people, you’re going to struggle”
Or control the line of scrimmage: “We’re not good enough up front right now, quite frankly. Just not.”
When a reporter asked about falling victim to the same errors again and again, Muschamp asked if he wanted to play on Florida’s offensive line.
“We’re doing all we can do. Doing all we can do with what we’ve got right now,” he said. “We’ve got to find some better answers. … We’re trying. You want to play guard for us?”
On a night only 11 scholarship seniors were honored before the game, Muschamp also talked about youth, saying “Over 70 percent of our roster is freshmen and sophomores, and those are the guys that are playing.”
Still, he admitted Florida’s problems go deeper than sheer lack of depth.
“I know everybody wants to put their hand on one thing and say, ‘This is it. Eureka. We’ve got the solution.’ But that’s not the way it works,” he said. “There’s a lot things. There’s a lot of moving parts. … We’ve got to develop more discipline and toughness within what we’re trying to do, which I think we’ve made strides.”
But there are plenty of areas in which the Gators have struggled this season.
Despite having two senior backs in Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, and a fifth-year senior at quarterback, they rank 75th nationally in rushing offense, 71st in scoring offense and 101st in total offense.
At minus-11, Florida is 114th in turnover margin — it’s no coincidence that LSU is first at plus-19. Under Muschamp, the Gators have been undisciplined, ranking 114th in the country in penalties with 93.
“We need to improve. That’s what recruiting is for and that’s what bowl practice and the off-season and spring is for,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to do as a program. We’re going to move forward to build on what we need to do.”
Despite the difficulties of the season, of the final game against FSU, Muschamp said he has hope for the future.
“We’re going to be fine. It’s a very frustrating time right now to be a Florida Gator, and I understand that, and it falls on my shoulders, and there’s nobody else you need to look at,” he said. “But it’s going to get fixed, all right?”
But how, coach?
“I’m recruiting,” Muschamp said when asked what he would be doing this week. “I will not be in Gainesville, Florida.”
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
