Muschamp More Interested in Solutions than Excuses as Gators Try to Snap Skid
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gators football coach Will Muschamp isn't about to get all emotional over Florida's three-game losing streak – the first real pothole of his young head-coaching career.
He'll leave that to fans and talk-radio hosts and armchair quarterbacks.
The day after the Gators' 17-6 loss to Auburn on Saturday night, Muschamp was in the office watching film and trying to figure out ways the Gators can improve before their Oct. 29 meeting with Georgia in Jacksonville.
During his press conference on Tuesday, Muschamp recalled times during his career as an assistant when he left a game feeling good about the way his defensive unit played and then after watching film, he realized how lucky they were to win. He experienced something different after watching film of the Auburn loss.
“I've also left a bunch of ballgames thinking I was the worst coach in America,'' Muschamp said. “And I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that think that right now. But as I watched the film on Sunday I was thinking, 'Man, we didn't play that bad.' ''
Muschamp watched a team playing with energy, passion and effort. He saw a team a play or two away from possibly being 5-2 instead of 4-3. However, due to a lack of execution and some familiar mental mistakes, the Gators dropped their third consecutive game.
That's what stayed with Muschamp the most.
With a bye week to help them prepare for Georgia, the Gators are turning the spotlight on themselves more than the Bulldogs.
That's the only way they can improve.
“I always tell the coaches and I tell the players, look in the mirror. I start with me. 'What can I do better to improve the organization?' Self-evaluation is very difficult,'' Muschamp said. “Some guys have a very hard time … but that's part of the deal. That's what we're looking at right now. We've got very professional staff. We've all been through tough times. That's what we get paid to do. We need to find out those solutions. That's what we're trying to do.''
The Gators could take a huge step in that direction if fifth-year senior quarterback John Brantley is available to play against Georgia. Brantley is off crutches and Muschamp said the plan is for him to return to practice on Monday.
While it remains too soon to know if Brantley's injured ankle will allow him to play against Georgia, having him back on the field before the end of the season appears more likely now than since the moment he was injured in a loss to Alabama.
“As far as that treatment is concerned, there is some physical action but not a whole lot,'' Muschamp said. “He's staying off it as much [as possible]. John's been living in the training room for the last three weeks. He's doing everything he can do to get back.''
With Brantley still limited, true freshmen Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel will split snaps at practice according to Muschamp. While much of the outside attention has centered on the struggles of the young quarterbacks, the Gators are looking everywhere for improvement.
The receivers and offensive line need to play better around the young quarterbacks. The running game needs to produce more. A turnover has become a total stranger to the defense.
After Saturday's loss, the Gators sounded like a team that has accepted reality following a 4-0 start in Muschamp's first season.
“Nothing is going to come easy,'' junior receiver Frankie Hammond said. “We have to go back and see where the mistakes were made and get them corrected. Every game is not going to be perfect and drawn out the way you thought it would be.''
To reverse the slide and get a win over Georgia -- his alma mater -- Muschamp is keeping emotion on the sideline. Instead, he is stressing fundamentals and staying the course with the plan the Gators opened the season with.
Despite the looming possibility of a fourth consecutive loss – Florida hasn't done that in the regular season since 1988 – Muschamp isn't writing his first Gators team off. While the Gators lack the strength and size up front and in the backfield that Muschamp envisions one day, he doesn't see a total overhaul of the roster needed.
“I don't think we're far off,'' he said. “I think the biggest issue we have as much as anything is depth right now. We just need to get more big guys up front on the lines of scrimmage. I think we have some good players in this program. I think we have some depth issues we need to work through.''
Those depth issues are going to take time to overcome, solved only by adding the type of players Muschamp and his staff want to build around through recruiting. For now they are trying to maximize the current roster's potential.
Heading into the Auburn game Muschamp said his message to the team was that “it's time to grow up.'' After watching the game film, Muschamp saw some growth but not enough for Florida to earn its first win since Sept. 24 at Kentucky.
By the time the annual clash with the Bulldogs kicks off in Jacksonville, it will have been more than a month since Florida won a game. There are multiple factors involved, including an offense averaging just 209.6 yards per game during the three-game losing streak and a minus-7 turnover margin, last in the SEC.
Between now and then, Muschamp is hoping the Gators find some of the answers that lead to a win.
“We can have all the excuses you want to have why we haven't had some success,'' Muschamp said. “We can blame it on injuries and we can blame it on youth and we can blame it on schedule – we can do that if you want to – but at the University of Florida we have a certain expectation level of how we should perform.''
