Muschamp Gets Support from Florida AD, Seeks to Snap Losing Streak Against South Carolina
As it enters a four-game losing streak when it plays South Carolina (7-2, 5-2) on Saturday, Florida (4-5, 3-4) is fast approaching its first losing season since 1979. This an ending that Gators Nation is obviously unhappy with and it extends to coach Will Muschamp.
Will this football team see a coaching change next season? As of now, it appears unlikely.
Will Muschamp
On Wednesday, Florida’s athletic director Jeremy Foley gave Muschamp a rousing endorsement by saying via the school’s website,
“As athletic director, I’m a thousand percent convinced that Will Muschamp is the guy to lead this football program. Nothing has changed in what we feel about Will Muschamp from the day we hired him. Everyone around here wants the same thing,. We want to do what is right for the University of Florida. We understand that this football season has not gone the way any of us wanted it to go, certainly not the way our fans wanted it to go, and most of all, not the way Will Muschamp wanted it to go.
“We have a history of being successful, we have a history of fixing things when they need to be fixed, and that is what is going to happen here, and Coach Muschamp is the one that will fix it.â€
You can’t help but think it’s not a good thing to include the 1000% comment. But note that Foley also didn’t add any language about reassessing the situation after the season’s end.
So it looks like Muschamp will be back. He has four years remaining on his contract that goes through the 2017 season with a value of less than $3 million each year. In July, he received a $250,000 raise.
Muschamp is currently coaching in his third Florida season and has a 22-13 overall record (13-10 SEC) with a 1-1 bowl record.
Looking toward Saturday, Florida sits under .500 with its 4-5 overall /3-4 conference record. Last week was a low point as Vanderbilt (5-4, 2-4) defeated them 34-17–a first win by the team in Gainsville since 1945.
The loss shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as Florida has a 335.7 yards per game average (No. 111 of 123 FBS teams). Last year wasn’t much better as the Gators were No. 103 with 334.4 yards per game average.
A glaring weakness has been Florida’s passing offense. In 2013, it has a No. 99 ranking (189.7 yards per game) as compared to 114 (146.3 YPG) last year and and 89th (185.7 YPG) back in 2011.
Not helping this team has been the injury bug. It already has 10 players out for the season (seven starters) with a total of two dozen-plus players who have missed time due to injury.
And the bleeding continues.
Tyler Murphy
Gators starting quarterback Tyler Murphy could be out for Saturday’s game thanks to a sprained right shoulder. He has not practiced this week and he’s got a  day-to-day listing, according to the team’s offensive coordinator Brent Pease; he is likely a game-time decision.
So who is the next man up? Say hello to redshirt freshman, Skyler Mornhinweg. He’s Florida’s final scholarship quarterback available and well, he’s green: he’s never taken a snap. Behind him is redshirt junior walk-on, Christian Provancha.
South Carolina will be looking to avenge last year’s 44-11 loss against Florida. They still have their eyes on playing the SEC title game but besides a win this week, they will need #7 Auburn (9-1, 5-1) to defeat #25 Georgia (6-3, 4-2) on Saturday and #9 Missouri (9-1, 5-1) to lose one of their games.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has said he wants his team to focus on their own game not Auburn’s. He said via The Associated Press, “No interest at all in that game. We have no control over it. We’re just going to talk about trying to play our best this week. Whatever happens within the division happens.”
No worries, the Gamecocks will get the win on Saturday (-13, 41.5 o/u).
