Will Muschamp doesn’t mind “winning ugly,” but it will only get the Gators so far.
After Florida’s 20-17 win at Texas A&M on Saturday, Muschamp said he felt the narrow victory justified the team’s struggles against Bowling Green in the season opener.
“I know I got killed for last week, but there’s a reason why we did it,” Muschamp said of playing a grind-it-out style against the Falcons.
“We had a superior football team than Bowling Green. Nothing against those guys, but we needed to play that way in order to play that way this week in this ball game.”
No team should aim for a performance in which it only plays well for one of the game’s two halves.
Florida gained just 101 yards while allowing 269 in the first half against Texas A&M.
But, when asked if he was concerned with Saturday’s slow start, Muschamp disagreed with the assertion that the start was poor.
“We played well on offense; we scored the first possession,” he said.
One good drive does not constitute a good start, especially considering Florida mustered just 43 yards of offense on the following two drives and the defense was gashed throughout the first two quarters.
“Not really,” linebacker Jon Bostic said when asked if he minds wins that aren’t pretty.
“A win is a win. Regardless of how you get it, a win is a win. By 40 points, a point, a half a point, a win is a win.”
Yes, the ultimate goal is to win every game.
But a ‘W’ in the win column doesn’t mean the margin of victory is irrelevant, or that struggles should be downplayed.
Because what Florida did in the first half on Saturday will not cut it this week against Tennessee, a team that was 27th in the country in total defense in 2011 and has opened 2012 with two wins by a combined 52 points.
The Volunteers will be better prepared to handle the Gators than the Aggies and Falcons were.
Much was made about what, if any, disadvantage Florida would be at because it did not have film of Texas A&M, while the Aggies could study the Gators’ game against the Falcons.
That difference in preparation certainly looked like it had an impact, as Florida appeared to be a different team in the second half on Saturday after getting a look at Texas A&M’s new offensive and defensive schemes.
The only film of Florida going into Saturday was from the Bowling Green game, in which the staff admittedly did not open up the playbook.
Unlike the Aggies, the Volunteers will be able to see what the Gators did against a Southeastern Conference team.
Florida will have film of Tennessee playing only Georgia State and North Carolina State, who barely beat UConn.
While Florida will have more film to prepare with than it did last week, the Volunteers will have a better idea of how the Gators like to start games.
Given Texas A&M’s early success even without that knowledge, the added study material could prove key for Tennessee.
Muschamp declined to say whether the Gators could win in Knoxville with the same first-half performance they put on in College Station.
“I just want to win,” Muschamp said. “Winning is well enough.”
That should be the goal, but Florida needs to play a complete game if it wants to achieve that goal on Saturday against the boys from Rocky Top.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Florida head coach Will Muschamp speaks to a referee during at Kyle Field during Florida's 20-17 victory against Texas A&M.
