Jon Sumrall takes accountability after South Carolina loss: ‘It starts with me’
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Jon Sumrall didn’t win many points with Florida fans on Saturday afternoon and his team didn’t score many points.
But the first-year Florida head coach did one thing that Gators fans should appreciate in the aftermath of a gruesome 38-19 home loss to previously struggling South Carolina.
Sumrall didn’t point fingers at anyone else, players or staff. Instead, during his postgame press conference, he pointed at himself for what he didn’t do well enough in Florida’s second straight loss after a 4-0 start. The Gators have gone from a No. 8 ranking in the AP Poll to No. 16 this week to who knows where come Sunday.
All it took were 2 really bad performances, with last week’s 45-17 blowout loss at Mizzou being followed by Saturday’s meltdown at The Swamp against a South Carolina team that came in 0-3 in the SEC but certainly got well at UF’s expense.
Sumrall’s message before anything else — blame him before you go to anybody else involved with the performance.
“Disappointing football today. No excuse for it. We have to go back to work and improve. I’m frustrated with every part of what we did today. It starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting the team ready to play,” Jon Sumrall said. “Today is not anywhere near where we need to perform. So many things to clean up. Just not a good football performance by us.”
Florida will have a chance to bounce back from 2 poor performances in a row, but it’s not going to get any easier. At least right now, the Gators’ next 2 games are against the 2 top-ranked teams in the country, with Florida playing at No. 1 Texas next week and then after a bye week heading to Atlanta to square off with No. 2 Georgia on Halloween.
Sumrall was off to such a great start in September, but it’s all come crashing down so far in October. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about Florida’s potential win total for this season after these back-to-back losses:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
