Florida coach Will Muschamp approached the podium in his typical business-like manner on Oct. 29, 2011. He delivered his initial postgame comments before opening the floor for questions.
There was talk of missed opportunities. There was talk of numbers.
Georgia scored two touchdowns on fourth downs and nearly added a third on the final play of the game. The Bulldogs ran out the clock on the Gators’ 1-yard line.
During the second half, Georgia amassed nearly 21 minutes of possession. The Bulldogs’ last drive burned the final 5:32.
The Gators had minus-19 rushing yards and gave away 106 yards on penalties. UF lost the turnover battle for a fourth straight game.
Perhaps most glaring was Florida’s new place in history. The loss to the Bulldogs marked the Gators’ first four-game losing streak since 1988. Florida had not endured a four-game skid against Southeastern Conference foes since 1979, its last season with a losing record.
The numbers dragged Muschamp down, but he never wavered. Unlike his demeanor on the sidelines, Muschamp’s preparation is on an even keel.
He never fluctuates. He stays the course.
Muschamp knew the process would not yield overnight success.
“I don’t really think about losing a whole lot,” Muschamp said after last season’s loss to Georgia. “But obviously, it’s happened, so we’ve got to regroup and reevaluate where we are. We need to move forward. It’s disappointing, and there’s no one more disappointed or impatient in it than I am. So, we’ve got to evaluate ourselves first of all, starting with me, and we’ll work from there.”
Four weeks later, Muschamp called his players “soft.” Another rivalry game defeat, this time a 21-7 loss to Florida State in The Swamp, secured Florida’s first season with six or more defeats since 1987.
“We’re not a physically tough team, and we’re not a mentally tough team,’” Muschamp said after losing to the Seminoles. “That’s the facts — hard to say it. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but ‘soft’ is not one of them, and we are, and it’s my fault.”
Two years removed from an undefeated regular season, the Gators were barely .500. They were broken, down and out.
The same Florida that sparked the SEC’s streak of national championships was an afterthought in the NCAA’s toughest league.
The fall from grace was complete. Muschamp began to rebuild.
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Muschamp was energetic and eager during his introductory press conference on December 14, 2010. He was clear, concise and direct.
Still, his opening statement lasted more than 20 minutes.
In his introduction to the UF community, Muschamp spelled out his coaching philosophy and his influences. Two things were clear: He was old-fashioned, and he was an SEC guy.
He grew up a Florida fan, played for Georgia and coached at LSU and Auburn before accepting the Gators head coaching job. Muschamp knew the culture of the SEC.
And after winning three national championships under offensive innovators Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, UF was changing course.
“The SEC is the line-of-scrimmage league,” Muschamp said in December 2010. “We’ve got to be able to run the ball, we’ve got to run the ball to kill the game at the end, run the ball in the red zone, and run the ball to develop toughness on your football team.”
Muschamp also preached stopping the run, winning the turnover battle and winning with blue-collar overachievers. Gone was Meyer’s “Top 1 percent of 1 percent” mentality.
Muschamp’s philosophy underwent a baptism by fire with the Gators last season.
Ranked opponents outrushed Florida by 117.8 yards per game. The Gators averaged an SEC-low 61 rushing yards per game in those contests.
UF’s minus-12 turnover margin was among the nation’s worst, ranking 113th nationally.
Most glaring was Florida’s penchant for wearing down late in games. In SEC play last season, the Gators were outscored 72-22 in the fourth quarter. UF was 0-5 when trailing at halftime.
Florida didn’t overachieve in 2011. At 7-6, the Gators underachieved.
“If you want to see (the) big picture in the last two years of the University of Florida, we’re 15-11. That’s unacceptable,” Muschamp said following the 2012 Gator Bowl. “Sometimes, I think you’ve got to put your realistic glasses on where you are as a program right at this point. It’s not where we’re going to be very long. I can assure you of that.”
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Dominique Easley goes to bed angry. Every night before falling asleep, he watches clips from Florida’s defeats last season. Losing makes him furious.
“It’s like you’re going to watch a video clip of you getting punched in your face over and over again,” Easley said. “You’re going to get mad every time you watch it.”
Pain, embarrassment and a sense of lost pride motivated the Gators during the offseason.
More specifically, October 2011 motivated the Gators.
“I told the guys all along, ‘Don’t ever forget the feeling you have right now,’” Muschamp said. “As a competitor, it ought to motivate you. If you’re truly a competitive guy, it ought to motivate you not to be in that situation again. I know I use it.”
New strength coach Jeff Dillman helped Florida improve its strength and endurance by introducing Olympic-style weightlifting. His constant motivation helped the Gators improve their mental toughness.
During summer workouts, Dillman coined the term, “Florida never breaks.”
The team invokes “FNB” often. The players post #FNB on Twitter. Sharrif Floyd writes it on his athletic tape before games.
“When times were the worst this offseason, and (the) beginning of the season when no one believed in us, we kept saying it,” Omar Hunter said. “Florida never breaks.”
Muschamp has been impressed with his team’s response to the “soft” label. He has praised Dillman for Florida’s quick growth.
For Florida never breaking.
“When you’re sitting there in the middle of June and the middle of July, you better be creative in how to motivate some of these guys,” Muschamp said. “I’ll be honest with you. I think back to when I was playing. It’s hard. It’s 150 degrees sitting outside, and you’re lifting weights. You better have somebody in there who has a great message to motivate you, and Jeff certainly does.”
Jelani Jenkins believes he and his teammates have always wanted to succeed. The Gators simply needed adversity to grow.
“We’ve always been a hungry team,” Jenkins said. “The main difference in the attitude now is we’ve been in those locker rooms and had those tears and had the pain. We felt all of that and all that builds up, and it’s a product of where we’re at today. We’re smarter. We have experience.”
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Florida is winning with Muschamp’s philosophy.
One year removed from a 30-point blowout in Baton Rouge, La., UF outmuscled LSU on the line of scrimmage in a 14-6 win on Oct. 6.
Mike Gillislee has led a surge in Florida’s ground game, which ranks third in the SEC with 212.7 yards per game. The Gators rank 12th nationally with 45.6 carries per game.
Florida’s success in the ground game is largely due to offensive coordinator Brent Pease, who has been creative within his commitment to Muschamp’s philosophy. Pease has incorporated several personal wrinkles into the Gators’ run-based attack, but most notably, he has employed multiple run packages with extra offensive linemen this season, especially against the Tigers.
Said Pease after beating LSU: “You know what they say: ‘Mass kicks ass.’”
Two weeks later, the Gators forced four fumbles and recovered three in a 44-11 win against the Gamecocks.
Florida, which forced 14 turnovers all of last season, has tallied 15 through seven games.
Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn coined the term “violators,” which describes players who are liable to fumble because they do not carry the ball correctly.
Offensively, the Gators have just four turnovers this season after averaging two per game in 2011. Quarterback Jeff Driskel has thrown only one interception in 2012.
Quinn, who has coached the defense with Muschamp since Day 1 in Gainesville, admires Muschamp’s adherence to his personal philosophy, even after last season’s struggles.
“One of the important things is when you have a belief in something, you stay the course and trust it, where sometimes, it can be easy to get off track” Quinn said. “That’s something Will never wavered from in terms of wanting to run the ball, possess it, and take care of it on offense and try and get it on defense. Although we didn’t have the results that we wanted to in terms of that way last year, that was still the same message in the offseason — hadn’t changed. And that was his blueprint for winning and I think it kind of goes to show if you have a belief and stick with it, I think good things will follow.”
Most remarkably, Florida, the second-ranked team in the BCS standings, is succeeding as a group of overachievers. The Gators were the No. 23 team in the nation before the season — picked to finish third in the SEC East.
UF will face UGA, the team that capped the Gators’ worst stretch in more than 20 years last October. The same team that stopped 1 yard short of the end zone out of pity.
The last time Florida played Georgia, Muschamp’s philosophy seemed like a failed theory forced upon a team that was not equipped to play that way.
Now, a club that has assumed Muschamp’s identity and style will face arguably its toughest test on the road to redemption.
Is Florida’s 7-0 start surprising?
“Nah,” Muschamp said.
He then took a second before expressing faith in his philosophy for the umpteenth time. The Muschamp Way has propelled the Gators back to national prominence.
“(I) expect to win ‘em all — I did last year,” Muschamp said. “You find ways to get it done. However you get it done, whether the odds are better for you or not, it really doesn’t matter to me. I have a positive outlook on everything we do in our organization, from recruiting to playing to practicing and the off-season, everything. I choose to believe that way.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Even as the Gators suffered through their first four-game losing streak against SEC opponents since 1979, coach Will Muschamp never wavered from his process.
After finishing 2011 a disappointing 7-6, the Gators have plenty to celebrate in 2012. In Year 2 under coach Will Muschamp, Florida is 7-0 and boasts the No. 2 BCS ranking thanks to a powerful rushing attack, increased toughness and an emphasis on turnovers.
