GAINESVILLE -- A six-loss season of frustration, of trying to fit square pegs into round holes finally came to a head Saturday for Florida and first-year coach Will Muschamp.
After losing to rival Florida State at home for the first time since 2003, Muschamp used the postgame news conference to air his angst with the way the Gators have played in 2011.
He reminded his team that it is soft: “That’s not the first time they’ve heard it. It’s not the first time they’ve heard it all season, I can tell you that. I always say self evaluation’s hard. It starts with me, and it falls on my shoulders, and I’m the one who’s responsible, but at the end of the day, you are what you are.”
He talked about Florida’s inability to run the football: “When you become a one-dimensional team, you’re a lateral running team, and you can’t run the ball inside, and you can’t run the ball vertically at people, you’re going to struggle.”
Or control the line of scrimmage: “We’re not good enough up front right now, quite frankly. Just not.”
When a reporter asked about falling victim to the same errors again and again, Muschamp asked if he wanted to play on Florida’s offensive line.
“We’re doing all we can do. Doing all we can do with what we’ve got right now,” he said. “We’ve got to find some better answers. … We’re trying. You want to play guard for us?”
On a night when only 11 scholarship seniors were honored before the game, Muschamp also talked about youth, saying: “Over 70 percent of our roster is freshmen and sophomores, and those are the guys that are playing.”
Still, he admitted Florida’s problems go deeper than sheer lack of depth.
“You can’t just put your finger on one thing and say this is it. It’s a lot of things,” Muschamp said. “We’re working through that. We’ve made improvements in areas — obviously, not enough.”
There are plenty of areas in which the Gators have struggled this season. Despite having two senior running backs in Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, and a fifth-year senior at quarterback, they rank 75th nationally in rushing offense, 71st in scoring offense and 101st in total offense.
At minus-11, Florida is 118th in turnover margin — it’s no coincidence that LSU is first at plus-19. Under Muschamp, the Gators have been undisciplined, ranking 114th in the country in penalties with 93.
Although they committed just four against the Seminoles, three of them were unnecessary personal fouls, and one gave FSU a first down at the 1-yard line to set up a touchdown after the defense had come up with a stop on third down.
With the regular season over, Muschamp and the Gators now have a few weeks off before preparations for their bowl game, which is likely to be a matchup with Ohio State in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. It also means at least 15 practices that a young team desperately needs.
“We need to improve. That’s what recruiting is for, and that’s what bowl practice and the offseason and spring is for,” Muschamp said. “That’s what we’re going to do as a program. We’re going to move forward to build on what we need to do.”
Despite this year’s difficulties, of the finale against FSU, Muschamp said he has hope for the future.
“We’re going to be fine. It’s a very frustrating time right now to be a Florida Gator, and I understand that, and it falls on my shoulders, and there’s nobody else you need to look at,” he said. “You don’t need to blame the offensive coaches or the defensive coaches or the special teams coach or whoever’s recruited or who was here before. It falls on one guy’s shoulders, and that’s mine. And it’s going to get corrected. … I know everybody’s frustrated. I get that. I do. I’m frustrated, too. I guarantee more than you guys are, more than anybody sitting in that stadium. Very frustrated. But it’s going to get fixed, all right?”
