Dr. Football’s Mailbag, Eastern Kentucky week


 This is the next-to-last Mailbag so if you’ve been waiting all year to ask a question, you had better get it in before Tuesday. Thanks again everyone.

You summed up the S.C. loss as “Muschamp 101” football, and that was dead on. Throwing only 11 passes against that secondary is mind-boggling; do you think that in the end he just couldn’t stop himself from trying to win his way, no matter how much the team struggled during the game? — Carl

In a word, “Yes.” I think Will Muschamp struggled to let the offense cut loose because of his job insecurity. He knew he had to win games and felt the best way to win was to not take chances because of the turnovers that resulted when he did that with Jeff Driskel. The plan was to open up the offense last year and Driskel got hurt nine quarters in. The plan was to open up the offense this year but Driskel kept melting down. In the end, his desire to have a better offense was hamstrung by his quarterback and once they switched to Treon Harris, they were afraid to do too much.

Why did Muschamp choose the south (South Carolina) end zone for OT?  Don’t tell me because of the wind. The advantage is the north end zone with the students and the noise. — William

When I saw this happening, I was losing my mind in the press box. It made no sense. It was almost as if he knew he wasn’t going to take any chances and wanted the wind for his field goal kicker. In many ways, it sums up why Florida is looking for a new coach.

Why don’t the Gators throw the ball between the hash marks?  It seems like all of our passes are down the sideline which basically takes away half the field and adds an extra defender (the sideline). — Steve

I never understood why the game plan seemed to be run up the middle and throw an occasional deep ball. It certainly was not a very sophisticated passing attack. Again, some of that goes back to the number of interceptions that happened when they did throw over the middle.

Why did it take you so long to call for Muschamp’s firing when everyone could see it after the Georgia Southern loss that he had to go? — John

 I felt and still do that he deserved another year. He was coming off an 11-win season and SEC coach of the year. The injuries were devastating in 2013. Many of us thought they could have a big year in 2014, but the LSU loss killed it and the Missouri loss was brutal. Still, if he could have run the table, it would have been an 8-3 season with wins over Tennessee, Georgia and FSU, so you had to give him that opportunity. That’s my opinion and obviously the opinion of the athletic director. And I truly believe that by giving him a fourth year Jeremy Foley made the job a little more attractive.