COLUMBIA, S.C. — Add Will Muschamp to the injury report.
After punching a chalkboard in the locker room during halftime, bandages wrapped around the third-year coach’s right middle and index fingers while a shallow cut was visible on his pinky.
He bore the brunt of another late collapse and another missed opportunity following a 19-14 loss to No. 10 South Carolina on Saturday night.
Florida played inspired football, and “Coach Boom” made sure it wasn’t forgotten.
“You can say what you want to say and write whatever the hell you want to write, but it’s real. It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for that locker room,” Muschamp said. “To hell with me, I worry about the kids. These kids fought their butts off. There’s a lot of negativity out there, and some of our fans need to get a grip. They really do. We have a bunch of kids in that locker room fighting their butt off.”
With another defeat, Florida (4-6, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) needs to beat both Georgia Southern and No. 2 Florida State in order to preserve its 22-year bowl appearance streak.
All this may have to happen without starting quarterback Tyler Murphy, who missed Saturday night’s game due to a right shoulder sprain.
To say this has been a tough year for Florida does not do it justice. Athletics Director Jeremy Foley and University of Florida President Bernie Machen voiced their support for Muschamp in a press release on Wednesday.
“As athletic director, I’m a thousand percent convinced that Will Muschamp is the guy to lead this football program,’’ Foley said.
Muschamp fell to 22-14 in his head-coaching career after Trey Burton was leveled on the game’s final play. An offensive attack of three runs and a first down turned into three runs and a cloud of dust once South Carolina adjusted in the second half.
The Gators gained just 31 rushing yards after a first half during which the Wildcat experienced a renaissance of sorts with quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg going in motion and Kelvin Taylor taking two direct snaps for the only Florida touchdowns Saturday night.
The Gators’ chance of becoming bowl eligible took a significant hit after Florida held its first lead since UF led LSU 3-0 on Oct. 12.
From the start, the Gators were playing with nothing to lose after a season in which it lost everything — 10 players to season-ending injuries, conference title aspirations and its national standing.
UF players took to Twitter following the game. “So proud of my teammates man!! We keep fighting no matter what! #GoGators,” Jaylen Watkins (@jwat14) said from his account.
Kyle Koehne (@KingKone64) went one step further: “All I can say is we played our hearts out. We left everything out there on the field. I hope Gator nation saw that as well.”
After the game, it was not just about the chalkboard being an innocent bystander in a moment of impulse and passion. It was about a coach who defended his players, a coach asking for trust and a coach looking to move on.
“I understand the passion and the disappointment,’’ Foley said of UF fans on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got great fans, they love the Gators and their passion makes this place special. They are hurting, they want the program to be successful and we feel that hurt.”
That never rang truer than on Saturday night.
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus.
Will Muschamp speaks at a press conference following Florida’s 19-14 loss to South Carolina on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Muschamp said he injured his hand punching a chalkboard.
