JACKSONVILLE — Could it have gone any worse? Florida falls behind early only to knock on victory’s door, have it swing open and smack it in the face.
If Saturday ended at halftime, this column would’ve been a rip job on a splintered Gators team. A team that looked like it didn’t want to play. A team that looked down, dejected and disinterested in a game that could save its season for another week.
Instead, this is a rallying cry — an open letter to Florida fans and students. It may have taken a fluky fumble recovery by Leon Orr and a leaping Mack Brown to wake the Gators up, but they still need your support.
That support appeared to be dwindling for the nation’s 110th-ranked offense and a defense that headed into Saturday more porous than Swiss cheese. A fan donning an orange shirt, sitting on the Florida side of EverBank Field, flipped coach Will Muschamp the bird when he walked into the tunnel following the game. Florida students were more concerned about heading to Tallahassee for a top-10 matchup and the Rivalry Music Festival.
There’s good reason to give up. The personal fouls get old. The negative offensive plays get old. The losses are old.
Signing two offensive linemen in the 2011 and 2012 classes has left Florida thin at the position where it can least afford to be. Going from Spurrier’s offense, to Urban’s Tebow-led offense, to an offensive offense has made Florida a social-media punch line on game day.
An unexpected 83-yard pass play to Quinton Dunbar on Saturday led to no points as Francisco Velez missed a 40-yard field goal try. Austin Hardin, after his missed 47-yard attempt later in the game, stared at the field-goal posts, hands on hips, as if to ask, “What the heck happened?”
After eight games, a better question for these Gators could be: “Why bother? There’s nothing to play for.”
Still, redshirt junior Mack Brown said it best following the game. While some form of the word “frustration” spewed out of every player’s mouth, including his, the running back had this to say:
“We’ve got the Gator on our helmet and the names on our back,” Brown said. “Our parents taught us better. Our coaches taught us better. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to fight to the last game of the season.”
Florida eventually showed some bite. Muschamp tried explaining what happened in the first quarter, where the Gators surrendered 259 total yards to the Bulldogs. It sounded like coach jargon.
A better explanation is they just sucked. Florida fans have a right to be upset. It gets tiring watching a struggling defense and a bad Big Ten offense in the Southeastern Conference every week.
To the guy in the orange shirt: You got your money’s worth on Saturday. That was a hell of a second half by a Gators team that got embarrassed through two quarters. To University of Florida students: Be happy you’re attending a big-time SEC school where football weekends are the best weekends.
Sure, this coaching regime is 22-12 and 4-5 versus Georgia, Florida State, Miami and Tennessee, which are four teams Meyer went 17-2 against.
Yet, Muschamp walked into the interview room at EverBank Field stern and disappointed with his family among the media despite the cameras that flashed, the questions that were asked, and the coach that stood at perhaps his lowest professional point in three years.
That’s what you do. Sometimes family doesn’t fulfill expectations, but one thing remains. Family sticks together.
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus.
Coach Will Muschamp walks off the field following Florida’s 23-20 loss to Georgia on Nov. 2 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
