Florida quarterback Tyler Murphy could not have played any worse than he did during a mistake-filled first half against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Then he threw another deflating interception on the opening drive after halftime to continue his abysmal performance.
Murphy finished the game with four turnovers in the worst start of his college career. Behind his blunders, the hapless Gators fell to the Commodores 34-17 in front of an audience of 88,004 fans during homecoming weekend at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
“I didn’t play well,” Murphy said after the loss that all but ended the Gators’ bowl hopes. “When you throw three interceptions, you put the defense in a bind, you kill your momentum offensively. I’ve got to play better.”
Murphy has been unimpressive for the past month, but was able to avoid any truly disastrous performances. Florida’s junior quarterback was not as fortunate against the Commodores.
He finished the game 30-of-46 passing for 305 yards and one touchdown, but also threw three interceptions and fumbled once. Each of Murphy’s three picks were returned deep into Florida territory and resulted in Vanderbilt touchdowns.
“You’re not going to win many games turning it over four times,” coach Will Muschamp said. “We’re not good enough to overcome critical mistakes like that.”
Murphy’s trouble began brewing when he overthrew Quinton Dunbar on Florida’s second possession and was forced to make a touchdown-saving tackle. His problems continued with the Gators (4-5, 3-4 SEC) trailing 10-0 early in the second quarter.
Looking over the middle of the field, Murphy was crushed as he released the ball, and his fluttering pass resulted in another interception. He was later sacked and fumbled the ball to the Commodores (5-4, 2-4) as the Gators looked to trim their 17-3 deficit before halftime.
“It hurt a lot,” Murphy said of the fumble. “Same thing kind of happened to us against Missouri. Anytime you turn the ball over right before half and kind of miss on some quick points, it hurts.”
Murphy is the one who has been hurting since suffering a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder during a loss to LSU on Oct. 12, but he refused to blame the discomfort for his poor performance.
In addition to his three interceptions — Murphy entered Saturday with just two interceptions in six games — he severely missed several open receivers, including bouncing a pass to Trey Burton in the end zone and under-throwing Solomon Patton by at least 10 yards as he streaked down the right sideline.
On top of his physical miscues, one of Murphy’s biggest mistake was mental.
After marching the Gators from their own 9-yard line to within feet of a touchdown, he checked out of a called run to the left and into an option from the 1-yard line. The decision was costly. Murphy attempted to pitch the ball to Kelvin Taylor but instead threw it out of bounds for a loss of 5 yards.
Florida settled for a field goal on the drive.Given the team’s offensive shortcomings — the Gators came into the game 13th in the SEC in scoring offense and dead last in total offense — the miscues destroyed any chance the team had of recovering from another slow start.
Now, much like Florida’s offense, its season is dead, too.
“I’m still confident in myself, but any time you play like that, it doesn’t help the team,” Murphy said. “Individually, I felt like I let my team down.”
