Loss to Georgia Would Be the Final Nail in Will Muschamp's Coffin
It seems like every week is the biggest game of Florida head coach Will Muschamp's career, but this week's matchup with rival Georgia is undoubtedly the biggest game of his Florida head coaching career.
At least for this week.
The Gators sit at 3-3 (2-3 SEC) and have had two weeks to prepare for the Bulldogs. During the time off, Muschamp announced that true freshman Treon Harris will be the Gators' starting quarterback vs. the Bulldogs.
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It's a panic move.
A prayer.
One last shot for Muschamp to save his season and Florida career before packing up the office.
Muschamp has already moved to the wrong side of the hot seat. Instead of fighting to stay employed, the stagnant offense and embarrassing loss to Missouri have relegated Muschamp to fighting to win his job back.
The dreaded vote of confidence came and went long ago, and athletic director Jeremy Foley has been relegated to simply supporting the program—you know, the one he's in charge of.
"At the beginning of the season we said we would evaluate the season as it plays out," Foley told reporters last week. "We will continue to do so. Our sole focus right now is supporting our coaching staff and players as they prepare for Georgia."
That's a relatively short-term statement concerning a long-term problem, which suggests that the Georgia game is the defining game of Muschamp's career.
I covered the pros and cons of firing a coach midseason last week. While firing a coach in the middle of the season generally is more of a PR move than one that actually carries some weight, a fourth straight loss to Georgia seems like it would do the trick and earn Muschamp the pink slip.
Muschamp is no dummy.
He knows that, while he has done quite a bit to change the image of the program off the field, the image of the team on the field has taken a drastic hit. Cleaning up the program off the field only goes so far if you're not winning on it.
"I appreciate it," Muschamp said on the SEC coaches teleconference last week. "I think Jeremy sees a lot of the things that are going on in the program, and certainly a huge part of that is winning games. That's not what we've done. Academically, socially, all of the things we've done within the program to change the culture have been outstanding."
| 2011 | 7-6 | 3-5 | 3 |
| 2012 | 11-2 | 7-1 | T1 |
| 2013 | 4-8 | 3-5 | 5 |
| 2014 | 3-3 | 2-3 | N/A |
| Overall | 25-19 | 15-14 | N/A |
A change in the culture was needed after, 31 Gators were arrested under former coach Urban Meyer from 2005-2010, according to the New York Times. Florida is, however, still in the business of winning championships, and that business is on the verge of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
This game against Georgia is the one that could finish it off.
Florida dominated the series with Georgia, winning 18 of 21 meetings from 1990 to 2010. When Muschamp got the job in 2011, the script was flipped. The former Bulldog safety has never beaten his alma mater, and another loss would leave him with nothing to hang his hat on.
The offense is a disaster, the program is not competing for division titles in what's a remarkably weak division, isn't beating its rivals and is on a seemingly endless downward spiral.
Georgia is Muschamp's last chance.
Even with a win, Muschamp may be let go after the season. A loss would be the final nail in the coffin. Whether he gets fired after the game or after the season, there'd be nothing left for Muschamp to sell to Foley.
No pressure.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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