Florida Gators Lose to South Carolina Gamecocks: It’s Time to Fire Will Muschamp

That’s the nail in the coffin. It has to be over now. The Florida Gators have got to fire Will Muschamp now.

After losing to South Carolina 23-20 in overtime on Saturday, a game that we picked accurately here at Saturday Blitz, Florida fell to 5-4 and 4-4 in the SEC. It’s no particular bad call in the game that is the reason Muschamp needs to be fired.

It’s the simple fact that this is a results based business. And once again, Muschamp has not delivered the results required at Florida.

South Carolina was 4-5 and going into Gainesville. Florida appeared to have found a rhythm with Treon Harris as its quarterback and huge wins over Vanderbilt and Georgia.

This game should have been certain.

But coming off the bye week, Steve Spurrier did a great job having his team prepared, and a Brandon Wilds run and Elliott Fry field goal gave this team a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

Florida responded well with a Francisco Valez field goal and Treon Harris touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to tie the game at 10 at halftime, and a touchdown by Matt Jones gave them a 17-10 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Then, Florida got the worst of luck after a blocked field goal and then a blocked punt in the fourth quarter. That blocked punt set up the game-tying touchdown, but South Carolina still almost gave the game away on a goal line fumble.

Florida, though, couldn’t take it as Mike Davis recovered that fumble in the end zone, tying the game for South Carolina. A field goal by Austin Hardin gave Florida a 20-17 lead in overtime, but then South Carolina had an easy running drive capped off with a 4-yard touchdown run by Dylan Thompson.

The bad luck at the end of the game would not seem to be held against Muschamp. But it has to be. Florida can’t will itself to victories, clearly, and now is not going to have anything big done this year.

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For the third time in four years, this team will likely finish the season outside of the Top 25. That run also includes a 4-8 season. It’s over.

This loss never should have happened, and even with a new quarterback, the Gators can’t beat the mediocre teams.

To be fair, South Carolina and Steve Spurrier deserve credit for rebounding to pull out the win and keep their bowl game hopes alive. With South Alabama up next week but Clemson the final game, this could be the determining win to get to a bowl if they take care of business, as they should, next week.

With such a disappointing season and after a heartbreaking loss to Tennessee two weeks ago, these guys refused to give up. All of that compounded on them got even worse when they gave up the 10-0 lead to Florida and went down 17-10. But they never quit playing.

That shows a team with a lot of pride. Despite a disappointing season, they’re not going to quit and they’re going to work as hard as possible for any accomplishments still on the table. A bowl and a Clemson victory is still on the table. And Spurrier will have them ready.

Meanwhile, Florida spells all quit under Muschamp. And the program has fallen too far down. It’s time to go in a new direction.

And Florida shouldn’t wait. Muschamp had multiple chances, including the chance to coach out this season. He failed.

It’s time to fire him. And fire him on Monday.