Florida dropped their fifth consecutive game last Saturday at the hands of South Carolina. The loss dropped Florida to 4-6 (3-5 SEC) and makes the next two games on the schedule must win games if Florida wants to gain bowl eligibility this year.
The first of those two games will be this Saturday at 2 p.m. against Georgia Southern. The Eagles run a true triple option offense, something Florida hasn’t faced under Will Muschamp. The Eagles are averaging 353.5 rushing yards-per-game and the Gators defense will need to play sound assignment football to stop the option and end their losing skid.
Injury and Suspension Update
- Florida did not sustain any major injuries last week against South Carolina.
- Tyler Murphy remains day-to-day but if the game were today he would not be able to play.
- Ahmad Fulwood sustained a minor shoulder injury against South Carolina but he is fine.
He’s fine. I think it was his shoulder but he’s fine. He took a pretty good shot there, but he’s fine.”
- D.J. Humphries was able to work out a little bit yesterday but he is once again doubtful this week.
- Marcus Roberson did some light running on his injured ankle. Muschamp reiterated that even though Roberson was suspended last week he wouldn’t have been able to play due to his injury.
- Muschamp and Roberson met on Monday morning and Roberson is not suspended as of now.
Yeah, he’s fine. He wouldn’t have been able to play in the game Saturday night obviously because of his ankle, but hopefully we’ll get him back this weekend.”
Dealing with an Upset Fan Base and Administration Support
- Both the athletic director [Jeremy Foley] and the school President [Dr. Bernie Machen] publicly backed Will Muschamp last week. Muschamp stated his gratitude towards the administration for supporting him.
“It says a lot about Jeremy and Dr. Machen from a standpoint of seeing where we were three years ago and understanding, making good decision within our program to see the day-to-day operation and understand the steps you made in year two and why we are where we are right now. And nobody’s happy with that. Absolutely nobody is happy. The expectation level here is to win championships, and we haven’t done it. But I think it’s seeing the big picture, too, and understanding where we are with the program and feeling good, not necessarily where we are right now, but understanding why we are where we are and where it’s headed.
- Recent quotes that Muschamp has given about the fan base have been blown out of proportion. Muschamp addressed those comments on Monday.
We have great fans here. It’s a small percentage. It’s just frustrating for me. Anybody that knows me, I care about the kids. It’s just frustrating for me. I’m fine with it. That’s part of the profession. But for our kids it’s frustrating. They’re working extremely hard, and that’s who I hurt for. We have great fans. I mean, I’m talking to a small percentage of our fans.”
Quarterback Situation
- Tyler Murphy will not practice on Monday and his status is still up in the air.
- The coaching staff was pleased with Skyler Mornhinweg’s performance last week and thought that he managed the game well.
- If Mornhinweg does play again this week, expect to see an expanded playbook from his first appearance.
I think he can handle more. I think a lot of our plan was based on their front and Clowney and those guys being able to protect for his first start and a lot of those situations. When you move past that he’ll be able to do more.”
- Muschamp said that Mornhinweg is well respected by his teammates.
- The offensive game plan against South Carolina was obviously very conservative. Muschamp said that was by design but more so because of the confidence that the coaching staff had in the offensive line against South Carolina’s defensive line and not because of what they thought Mornhinweg was capable of.
The offensive line performed well, which gives me more confidence to do some different things. I think that’s where you start, No. 1. It has nothing to do with Skyler. I’ve got confidence that Skyler can go out and execute our offense very well. He did it in the spring last year, in camp when we had opportunities.”
Preparing for Georgia Southern
- Georgia Southern brings a very effective triple option offense to Gainesville and it’s something that Florida hasn’t seen in practice or on the field.
We’re getting ready for an offense that’s so different from what we’ve seen in three years. Obviously we spent a lot of time in the offseason preparing and looking at different teams and how they handled this because it’s so different from what we’ve faced.”
- The defense will need to stay true to their assignments on Saturday to stop the option.
It’s responsibility within the defense of taking care of the fullback, taking care of the quarterback, taking care of the pitch. It’s not just the front guys. It’s the whole defense. Based on call, who has what, and then based on the blocking scheme.”
- The Eagles are only averaging just over 100 yards passing a game but it’s easy for a secondary to fall asleep when the opposing offense is running the whole game. Georgia Southern averages 19 yards per-completion.
Well, they’re averaging 19 yards a completion. So obviously when you lose your eyes on the run game, they can hit you deep. They’ve got some guys who run it extremely well. They have guys who fit their system. Jeff’s been there now enough time to where they’re able to have the kind of guys that fit what they are.”