BATON ROUGE, La. — Florida should leave its 17-6 loss to LSU feeling good about Tyler Murphy and awful about its offense.
Although it seems contradictory, the play of a quarterback and the performance of an offense can be mutually exclusive. That was the case Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
Making just his third start in his fourth career game — his first true test after treating matchups with Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas as nothing more than mere speed bumps — Murphy regressed against LSU in Death Valley.
But that isn’t why Florida lost.
Murphy finished the game 15-of-27 passing for 115 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Unlike in previous games, he did not do much damage with his legs either.
In a vacuum, that would suggest a pretty hideous performance. In reality, it was more than Florida could have asked given what Murphy endured — three hours and seven minutes of hell.
For as much as the Gators supposedly improved along the offensive line — the additions of Tyler Moore and Max Garcia were expected to help shore up a unit that returned Jon Harrison, Jon Halapio and D.J. Humphries — it looks like they may have gotten worse. The group was putrid against an LSU defense that entered Saturday ninth in the Southeastern Conference with 10 sacks on the season.
Murphy was sacked four times, but that number could have easily been closer to 10 if not for some heady plays and incredible movement in the pocket by the redshirt junior signal-caller.
Facing a second and 2 from the LSU 39-yard line during Florida’s opening possession, Murphy was in the clutches of a Tigers defender until he miraculously shoveled a pass to Mack Brown for a gain of a yard.
You can call it luck or poise. I call it Murphy’s Magic. And it’s something he did several other times during the game while running for his life.
Since taking over for Jeff Driskel, who suffered a fractured right fibula during the first quarter against Tennessee, Murphy has been unflappable. He is completing 66.7 percent of his passes and has thrown five touchdowns to just one interception.
For a guy who spent his first three years of Gainesville getting as much playing time as I did, that’s impressive. It becomes even more remarkable when you look at the help, or lack thereof, that Murphy has received.
For as bad as Florida’s offensive line has been, its running game has been equally non-existent for large stretches of time. It is likely there is a correlation between the two.
Matt Jones left during the first half against LSU with a knee injury and never returned. Mack Brown again averaged fewer than 4 yards per carry. Only Kelvin Taylor — receiving his first real game snaps of the season — could do any damage, and even that was on a limited basis.
With no real running threat and an offensive line that could not hold up long enough for deep routes to develop, Murphy never had a chance Saturday.
Fans will complain about him because he is the quarterback, a position that gets too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when they aren’t.
But it’s because of Murphy that the Gators still have a chance to win the SEC Eastern Division this season. He just needs some help.
Follow Phillip Heilman on Twitter @phillip_heilman.
Tyler Murphy (right) scrambles away from an LSU defensive lineman during Florida’s 17-6 loss on Saturday at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Murphy was sacked four times in the game for a loss of 40 yards.
