Coming off an open date last Saturday, the Florida Gators return to game week preparation for this Saturday’s game against Georgia. The Gators look to end a three-game losing streak against the Bulldogs, as well as turn things around for a program that is facing mounting skepticism about the future of head coach Will Muschamp.
Muschamp met with the media Monday for his weekly press conference. Here is some of what he had to say:
On what Florida-Georgia rivalry means to Muschamp, who played at Georgia from 1991-1994:
“Well, we need to get a win, that’s the first thing. But you know again it’s one of the great rivalries in college football. you look at the Florida-Georgia game, you look at Texas-OU. To be in a stadium that’s split 50/50, and the importance of the game to both universities is very special. So it’s obviously very important.”
Challenges in facing Georgia’s running game:
“They don’t have a lot of different styles, those guys are all physical guys that run the ball north-south pretty quickly, so I don’t know that there’s a difference in how they run, obviously Todd’s got a lot of experience and Nick’s been a guy that’s come along and played extremely well for them.”
Finding a role for Jeff Driskel:
“We will as the week rolls on. We really didn’t get started as far as game-planning on Georgia until Thursday. Jeff’s had a sore back a little bit, he missed most of last week as far as just getting some rest with him. But he’ll be back at practice today and be ready to go. And we’ll identify those things moving forward.”
Any feeling of relief now that there is a game week:
“Every week is the same during the season. It’s groundhog day as far as hours, time, time spent watching film. I’m hardly ever in my office, I’m in the staff room constantly you know constantly helping them get ready for a game. Complete bunker mentality during the season. As far as what we need to do to be successful. As far as all the other, I travel from home to work and work to home, and that’s about all I do, so I’m not into the other stuff. I’m watching film and getting this football team ready.”
On offensive line breakdowns against Missouri:
“I think as much as anything, when the scoreboard changed, we had to get into a drop-back game. They have two very good ends and we have good tackles and we locked them up for a large amount of the game. When they’re pinning their ears back most every down is going to be a drop-back situation. To be able to pin their ears back and get some pressure on the quarterback, against, I told our guys in those situations we have to be able to block. I feel good about our tackles. Given that situation, we need to respond better.”
On the bright spots of the offense:
“We’ve played well at the running back position, the offensive line has played well and we’ve continued to improve throughout the year on defense. There was a busted coverage against LSU, a critical play, and other than the secondary, the run defense, linebacker [has played well]. LSU was a pretty good football team running the football. Our run has improved pretty good for the most part, we’re seeing improvement throughout the year. Inconsistent play from the quarterback and receiver position hurt.”
Georgia’s defensive scheme:
“You know, I think from a just watching them, I think the two ends, Jenkins and Floyd, are very active in what they do. Both guys are very slippery in the rush. They can both get on the edges. Both linebackers are very instinctive. Herrera and Wilson are both guys that do a really good job in the run game. But they still, the years before and into this year, they’ve been pretty complex schematically in what they do and mix coverage pressure. I think they’ve continued to do a nice job of that. But they’ve been really limited, they have not given up many big plays. That’s probably as much as anything from last year; they were very young in the back end, gave up some big plays. I haven’t seen that as much. They’ve been very opportunistic and they’ve gotten some turnovers. But they haven’t given up a lot of chunk plays down the field.”
The importance of the rivalry:
“Well it’s an important game to the University of Florida, so that means it’s an important game to me. So you take it as that. Certainly the Gator Club meeting in Jacksonville will be easier next fall or next spring. But again, it’s a critical game. It’s an East rival. It’s an SEC rival. It’s a rival of the University of Florida. And it’s very important to our university.”