[gatortalk] Fwd: [gatornews] Mike Bianchi: UF's Muschamp will make critics eat their words

And...  I predict Muschamp will not get fired for cheating or have a freak out moment and decide to retire. 

And...  We will beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. 

Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI, SFR

Real Estate Broker

Bob Parks, LLC

145 Maple Row Blvd

Hendersonville TN 37075

Mobile: 615-972-4239

Office: 615-826-4040 

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "John Bowers" <jbowers4@cfl.rr.com>
Date: July 15, 2014 at 8:27:28 AM CDT
To: "Gator News" <gatornews@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatornews] Mike Bianchi: UF's Muschamp will make critics eat their words
Reply-To: gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com

UF's Muschamp will make critics eat their words

·          

Mike Bianchi

SPORTS COMMENTARY

9:22 a.m. EDT, July 15, 2014

HOOVER, Ala.— It started in earnest on Monday when the official first spark was ignited on the Will Muschamp 2014 Hot Seat Tour.

Even the University of Florida's media guide has been called into question by some Internet assassins who claim the bright orange cover represents a program on the verge of going up in flames.

A ridiculous premise, but a premise that won't go away until Muschamp starts winning and winning big. And, mark my words, he will. He's too good of a coach and too good of a recruiter at too good of a program not to.

 

"The hot seat, that's fine," Muschamp said atSoutheastern Conference Media Days. "You combat that by having a good football team, which we're going to have and by winning games, which we're going to do. I think we're going to have an outstanding year. I'm confident in this team and this staff. This is the most complete team we've had since I've been here."

 

I may be in the minority, but I still believe Muschamp will turn out to be a great college football coach. There is no possible way the Gators will suffer through another abysmal season like they did a year ago. There is no way Muschamp is as bad a coach as Florida's embarrassing 4-8 record last year might indicate. There's no way UF's nationally respected athletic director Jeremy Foley could possibly whiff this badly on a coach to replace the greatUrban Meyer.

Last year was just an awful aberration. The star-crossed Gators lost their final seven games mainly because they had 16 season-ending injuries to 10 starters. Starting quarterback Jeff Driskel went down with a broken leg. Backup quarterback Tyler Murphy injured his shoulder. And on and on and on.

"The rock-bottom moment came on a Tuesday night late in the season," Muschamp remembers. "It was about 9:30 or 10 at night. I'm in the defensive staff room preparing third-down [practice] for the next day. Our trainer knocks on the door and said [starting offensive tackle] Tyler Moore just wrecked his scooter and broke his elbow. That's the point where I looked at him and said, 'You've got to be kidding?' "

Gator Nation has essentially been saying the same thing after having to watch Florida's horrid offense over the last three seasons. There's no question Muschamp's stubbornness has contributed to his team's woeful offensive performances. His insistence that a mundane, grind-it-out, ball-control philosophy was the best way for the Gators to win turned out to be incredibly ill-advised.

Essentially, he got lulled into a false sense of security during an 11-2 season two years ago — a season in which the Gators were one of the worst good teams in the recent history of college football. During that season, the Gators had to rally from behind in eight games, five in the second half, and committed only 12 turnovers all year. The height of their good fortune came against Louisiana-Lafayette — a mediocre team from the Sun Belt Conference — in which the Gators won by blocking a punt for a touchdown on the last play of the game.

Florida has been ranked 100th or worse in total offense in each of Muschamp's first three seasons. That is inexplicable and inexcusable. Thus, he fired former offensive coordinator Brent Pease and brought in Kurt Roper to run a no-huddle, hurry-up spread offense. Quite a change from the previous years in which UF quarterback Jeff Driskel said Florida's goal on offense sometimes consisted of setting up for a punt.

"At times, you can only do what the coaching staff asked you do," Driskel said. "At times, we were asked to play conservatively and control the time of possession. I don't think it was a lack of talent. At times, it was lack of executing plays and at times it was lack of playcalling. There were times when we wanted to punt the ball and get [the opponent] inside their 10-yard line."

Those days are over.

Florida's offense will be significantly better this season, the defense will be dominant and UF will start winning again. And there will be a day in the not-too-distant future when many Gator fans will rue the day they wanted Muschamp fired.

Not that Muschamp is overly concerned with those who have placed him on the hot seat.

He jokes that Nike has made a new line of apparel for him this season.

"See this shirt," he said. "It's bulletproof."

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.

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