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Will Muschamp needs Jeff Driskel.
And Jeff Driskel needs Will Muschamp.
The long-standing marriage mired in offensive hell was first forged during the fiery former defensive coordinator’s inaugural season as a head coach in 2011.
Driskel was Muschamp’s crown jewel in his first recruiting class, the nation’s top-rated quarterback destined to follow in Tim Tebow’s footsteps and lead the Gators back to the national championship game.
That initial meeting, showered with praise and expectations, seems likes eons ago and Florida, coming off its worst season since 1979, is anything but College Football Playoff worthy.
How it got to this point is anyone’s guess, a tarred and feathered bag of talent questions and hot seat rumors that all culminated when second-teamer Treon Harris led the Gators in relief during last weekend’s win at Tennessee.
Florida’s suffered numerous abnormalities on offense during the pair’s tenure including a sizable drop in third-down conversion rate and the lack of a reliable passing game. The go hand-in-hand and often are associated with spotty quarterback play.
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The Gators never ranked higher than 10th in the SEC in total offense over the span, but did reach the Sugar Bowl in 2012, a loss to Louisville most deem the beginning of the end for whatever Muschamp was building in Gainesville.
On Saturday, it appeared Harris, a similar highly-touted dual threat to Driskel coming out of high school, could be the player who saves Muschamp’s job.
But that burden’s back on Driskel after Monday’s news of the true freshman’s suspension during an investigation for off-the-field misconduct.
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The relationship’s not as blissful as some may think for a four-year union, but Muschamp and Driskel are in this together.
“It’s not all on Jeff,” Muschamp said after Saturday’s stinker at Tennessee featured the lowest rating (14.3; 11-23/59 yards/3 INT) of the quarterback’s career.
Florida’s offense is broken and not even Kurt Roper, a first-year offensive coordinator who succeeded at talent-deprived Duke, can fix it in a single season.
Driskel missed the final nine games last season after breaking his lower right leg in Week 3 and came in this spring with something to prove as potentially Florida’s best quarterback on a roster filled with newcomers. He has instead regressed, coming off a pair of career-worst outings at Tuscaloosa and Knoxville over the last two games.
“He (Driskel) kind of had the tendency to stare down his receivers,” Tennessee sophomore corner Cam Sutton said. “We just had to be in those windows to make plays on the ball.”
For a player with tons of experience under center, that’s not a good sign, elementary mistakes from the pocket that aren’t necessarily correctable in a single week.
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Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley’s been in Muschamp’s corner since hand-picking him from Texas four years ago to lead the program, but the results haven’t been good enough (25 wins, 17 losses).
And unless Driskel snaps out of his funk and steers the Gators to eight, potentially nine wins this season, Muschamp’s time is up. As is Driskel’s tenure as an overrated passer who never panned out.
Maybe counseling’s in order since this marriage is nearing desperate measures.
“I don’t know what the plan is from here,” Driskel said after Saturday’s game. “But I know Coach Muschamp is going to put the guy out there who is going to have the best chance for this team.”
You’re up, Jeff.