It was an up and down week for Florida fans.
Monday morning, they woke up with a sense of hope.
The Gators went into Knoxville, Tenn., and pulled out an ugly 10-9 win, helped by backup true freshman quarterback Treon Harris coming in for starter Jeff Driskel late in the third quarter.
But around noon on Monday, the mood went south quickly as it was reported that Harris, who gave Florida a much-needed spark on offense, was under investigation for an alleged sexual case that occurred early Sunday morning at UF’s Springs Residential Complex.
Harris was suspended indefinitely from the football team, and for the majority of the week opinions varied.
On Friday afternoon, Harris’ accuser withdrew her complaint, and Harris was reinstated to the team a few hours after. Head coach Will Muschamp announced Friday he would still not play on Saturday.
Despite all the off the field issues surrounding the program throughout the week, there was still a big game looming Saturday night against the LSU Tigers.
Much like the week leading up to Saturday evening in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the game was just as back and forth.
Five lead changes, inconsistencies and turnovers caused Florida to have a slew of missed opportunities.
Jeff Driskel’s two interceptions.
Tight end Tevin Westbrook’s drop in the end zone.
And the secondary’s miscommunication.
All of them compounded and resulted in UF (3-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) falling 30-27 to LSU (5-2, 1-2 SEC) on Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
A frustrated Will Muschamp entered in front of the podium post game with a long-winded sigh, and a face of obvious chagrin and disappointment.
"Turnovers killed us, especially early in the game when we gave them a freebie," the fourth-year head coach said. "They did a good job running the football with the drive in the third quarter and were able to stay on the field during third downs. We weren’t able to get off the field and then we didn’t maintain drives offensively."
The plays were there, but Florida failed to execute.
Driskel’s turnover issues continued on Saturday — he fumbled midway through the first quarter and threw an interception early in the second quarter.
His second interception on the night came with less than a minute left in the game. He made a bad decision and threw a slant pass to Latroy Pittman Jr., who was double covered.
One defender hit the ball with the crown of his helmet as it was entering Pittman’s hands, tipping the ball and allowing the second defender to pick it off.
That pick gave LSU the ball back deep in Florida territory setting up the 50-yard field goal by LSU’s Colby Delahoussaye to give the Tigers a three point lead with three seconds left in the game.
"An interception to give them the ball there on the plus-side of the field, I’d like to have that back," Driskel said.
Sixth-year senior Andre Debose, who finished the game with 184 total yards, expressed his disappointment following the last-second loss.
"There is definitely an empty feeling. We didn’t get the [win]. We played hard and fought to the end; that’s all we can ask for, just to play our guts out." Debose said.
Empty feelings following games need to be few and far between for the Gators moving forward.
Even though the loss against an SEC West team means the conference picture is still in Florida’s hands, a loss is still a loss — something Muschamp can’t afford to do too often in the back half of the season.
Florida has a big SEC East matchup against Missouri this week, a 36-17 road loss for the Gators last season.
The following week is a bye week before facing No. 10 Georgia for the annual matchup in Jacksonville — a game Muschamp, a former UGA safety, has never won as a coach or player in seven attempts.
The last two big games on the schedule are South Carolina at home and No. 2 Florida State on the road.
It’s not the end of the road for Muschamp by any means, but at the midway point of the regular season, the Gators can’t afford to have many missed opportunities, empty feelings or losses if they want to keep him around.
And they are not looking back.
"This won’t bother us much," Debose said. "We’re anxious to get back to work. We’re just going to look forward. We can’t dawn on the past. We fought our hearts out. We left it all on the line and that’s all we can ask for."
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Florida head coach Will Muschamp glances at the scoreboard during Florida's 30-27 loss to LSU on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
