Florida has lost 4 of its last 5 games. The record in its last 10 against Power 5 competition is 2-8. This week, Florida head coach Dan Mullen fired a pair of assistant coaches. Coming off a 40-17 loss to South Carolina, the mood in Gainesville is as low as it has been all season.

On Wednesday, speaking on the Paul Finebaum Show, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit questioned the pride of the Gator team.

Herbstreit compared Florida’s recent weeks to LSU in the last two seasons. The Tigers are going through their own transition at coach this offseason and are 9-10 in their last 19 games.

“One thing you can say about over the years LSU and Florida, programs like this, whether they win all their games or not, they just have competitive kids,” Herbstreit said. “Really competitive guys with a great sense of pride. I guess I would ask you, other than when you watch LSU play Florida and LSU maybe play Alabama, would you say that LSU every week out has played with a tremendous amount of pride?

“When I think of LSU, going back as long as I’ve been watching football, I think of LSU players that are proud of the purple and gold, that are proud of Tiger Stadium and that state. I just haven’t sensed that the last 2 years. And the reason I bring that up is because I kind of feel some of the same characteristics with Florida over the last few weeks.

“There are just too many good players that have come through that program—and I don’t care about the NFL, I really don’t, all I care about are guys that want to play for Florida whether they’re winning a game, they’re losing a game, ‘Coach yelled at me,’ (or) ‘Coach let me play this week,’ (or) ‘Coach didn’t let me play this week.’ I think if I were Florida, I would reevaluate and find people that want to play football and that want to be engaged in a competitive spirit. I just can’t really say that about them right now.”

Florida (4-5, 2-5 SEC) plays FCS Samford at home this week. Kickoff is set for noon ET.