COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Will Muschamp walked into his post-game press conference dripping in sweat with a white towel wrapped around his neck. He looked worn out from yet another close game.
For the second week in a row, Florida entered the fourth quarter with the game still in doubt.
Being boring isn’t easy, but it works.
“I know I got killed for last week, but there’s a reason why we did it, because we had a superior football team than Bowling Green,” Muschamp said. “Nothing against those guys, but we needed to play that way in order to play that way this week in this ballgame.”
Running the football with quarterback Jeff Driskel acting as a “game manager” got the job done.
This isn’t your fun ‘n’ gun or spread-option offense. This is old-school Southeastern Conference football.
“We’re going to have a lot of games like this now,” Muschamp said. “That’s just who we are. We’re going to grind it out. We’re going to win, and that’s what we kind of are as a mentality as a football team as we continue to grow and mature through the year.”
Whether the Gators can bully teams to victory remains unanswered. UF played an outmatched Mid-American Conference team and an A&M squad playing its first game with a new coaching staff.
Right now, UF looks like the 11-year-old who picks on the second-graders. Grinding against teams like Georgia and LSU is unrealistic personnel-wise, but the Gators have the attitude down pat.
When Florida was down by 10 with seven minutes left in the second quarter, there wasn’t any panic on the sidelines, because it knew the objective in College Station — win the fourth quarter.
Depth hurt the Gators in 2011, and Muschamp said they might not have won this type of game last season.
Redshirt senior left guard James Wilson, the elder statesman, doesn’t remember a time winning from behind in his six years at Florida.
Until Saturday, the Gators hadn't rallied from a halftime deficit in five tries under Muschamp.
Florida generated nine minutes of offense in the fourth quarter, including running out the clock for the final three.
“We wanted to pound the ball,” right guard Jon Halapio said. “We wanted to run out the clock, and we definitely wanted to gas the other side of the line of scrimmage.”
Driskel moved the Gators 44 yards on six straight rush attempts by him, Mack Brown, and Solomon Patton to end the game.
“Happiest moment in Florida history for me — that and the Ohio State game,” Muschamp said.
If the Gators are to have more satisfying wins in 2012, running back Mike Gillislee has to stay healthy. He left the game after an apparent groin injury following his fourth-quarter touchdown.
Gillislee has four touchdowns, and UF running backs have 52 more rush attempts than pass attempts by the quarterbacks.
It isn’t pretty, and sometimes, it’s downright ugly.
“I told the guys at the end of the game, ‘We’re going to have to win some games like that this year. This is kind of who we are,’” Muschamp said. “I know nobody wants to hear that, but that’s the facts of life. Sometimes you’ve got to put your realistic glasses on and see who you are.”
Being boring will fly on only one condition coach — if you win.
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
UF coach Will Muschamp congratulates defensive lineman Dominique Easley after Florida's 20-17 win against Texas A&M Saturday at Kyle Field.
