Back to Work: Gators Get LSU in 'Swamp' Saturday
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 | Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- While the Treon Harris situation may be unresolved for some time, the Florida football season goes on.
LSU is coming to town Saturday.
After going silent on the media front for two days in the wake of Harris, their true freshman quarterback, being suspended amid an investigation of a sexual assault, UF coach Will Muschamp held what would normally be his Monday look-back/look-ahead news conference Wednesday, remaining mostly mum regarding Harris and limiting his remarks to his team's on-field focus.
“The statement the university released Monday, I think, was pretty self-explanatory,” said Muschamp, adding he was “comfortable” with how the issue had been handled to date. “It's a very serious charge and there's been no change in his status. ... We've got to move forward.”
The Gators (3-1, 2-1) face a Tigers (4-2, 0-2) team coming off back-to-back decisive Southeastern Conference defeats -- 34-29 at home against Mississippi State and 41-7 at Auburn -- and now backed in a corner regarding its hopes in the league's West Division.
UF, meanwhile, is coming off its 10-9 escape act at Tennessee, where Harris replaced benched starter Jeff Driskel and sparked a lifeless offense to a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives. Less than 48 hours later, Harris was suspended from the team indefinitely after he was accused of sexually assaulting a female student early Sunday, prompting his removal from all team activities.
Now, it's back to the grease board with Driskel, who has completed just 20 of 51 passes the past two games (39.2 percent) for 152 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. The offense, meanwhile, has managed only 200 and 232 yards, respectively, during those outings.
Driskel has struggled with accuracy for three straight games -- including a 2-for-25 errancy on balls beyond 15 yards -- but Muschamp again refused to let his fourth-year junior shoulder all the blame for an offense averaging just 321.3 yards per game in SEC play (11th in the league). Not when UF's receivers have combined to drop 15 balls; not when running backs fail to pick up blitzes that lead to interceptions; and not when a receiver runs the wrong route.
“The No. 1 thing you do, and what I addressed with our offense on Monday, is taking ownership in your job,” Muschamp said. “Take ownership in how you play and how you perform, instead of pointing a finger at somebody else, which is the easier thing to do.”
Expect to see some different personnel on offense this week, with true freshmen like running back Brandon Powell (out the last two games with a sore hamstring) and wideout C.J. Worton (out two games with a wrist injury) being folded into situational roles. Powell figures to be a nice change-of-pace guy out of the backfield, while Worton will operate out of the slot.
Elsewhere on the injury front, slot receiver Valdez Showers (ankle) will miss the game and defensive tackle Leon Orr (knee), who missed the win over the Volunteers, remains questionable. Running back Matt Jones, who rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown at Tennessee, has missed practice this week after his knee swelled, but is expected to play. Same with linebacker Michael Taylor (knee), who was sidelined at Knoxville.
As for Driskel, the offensive staff is working to instill confidence by reminding him of what he's done well over his career versus what he's done poorly. He made some plays two years ago when LSU came to town ranked fourth in the nation and the Gators, behind a strong defense and mostly mistake-free offense, won the game 14-6.
“Jeff's a tough young man. He's resilient,” Muschamp said. “I met with him Sunday and talked to him after the game and talked to him Monday. He understands the situation. He needs to play better. He takes full responsibility of being the quarterback at the University of Florida and the way he has handled this has been outstanding.”
LSU coach Les Miles, coming off the program's worst loss since 1999 (which pre-dates even the Nick Saban era), said Wednesday he has yet to decide whether it'll be sophomore Anthony Jennings or true freshman Brandon Harris who gets the start at quarterback this week. Neither was good against Auburn (Harris got the start and went 3-for-14 for 58 yards), as the Tigers finished with only 280 yards of total offense.
On the other side of the ball, LSU ranks last in the SEC in total defense (568 yards per game) and last in defending the run (300 ypg) against conference foes. In the Tigers' defense, their two SEC opponents have been the Nos. 1-2 offenses in the league.
The program has also lost 18 players to the NFL draft the last two years.
“It's hard to replace that, it's hard to recruit for that,” Muschamp said.
But like the Gators, no one outside the fan base is going to feel sorry for them. Whatever is wrong, must be fixed.
Quickly.
