THE SCOOP
Florida officials gave coach Will Muschamp the dreaded vote of confidence Wednesday.
School president Bernie Machen and athletic director Jeremy Foley voiced strong support for Muschamp, saying on the school’s website they are fully committed to keeping Muschamp around to fix the team’s problems. It doesn’t appear that they took any questions from reporters.
The Gators (4-5) have their second four-game losing streak in Muschamp’s three seasons and face the possibility of missing a bowl game for the first time since 1990. If Florida doesn’t upset No. 10 South Carolina or No. 2 Florida State this month, the program will have its first losing record since 1979.
“I’m a thousand percent convinced that Will Muschamp is the guy to lead this football program,” Foley said. “Nothing has changed in what we feel about Will Muschamp from the day we hired him.”
Muschamp is 22-13 at Florida, but he was 11-2 last season, 11-11 otherwise.
“We have a history of being successful. We have a history of fixing things when they need to be fixed,” Foley said. “And that is what is going to happen here, and coach Muschamp is the one that will fix it.”
BOWL CHATTER
Florida hasn’t sat out the postseason in nearly a quarter century. Vanderbilt, which had been to four bowl games in 120 years before James Franklin’s arrival, have a good shot at making it three in a row.
Plenty of other SEC teams also are jockeying for postseason eligibility.
The scramble goes well beyond the BCS Championship game hopes of top-ranked Alabama and perhaps Auburn. Missouri, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Georgia all have hopes of making a BCS game and/or playing for the SEC title.
Eight teams already are eligible for the SEC’s 10 guaranteed bowl slots, and only Arkansas and Kentucky don’t have a shot at making the postseason.
The injury-plagued Gators (4-6) are trying not to let the heat get to them, but they have to beat either South Carolina or Florida State to become eligible, assuming they’ll triumph over Georgia Southern in between.
Vanderbilt’s 34-17 victory over the Gators changed the bowl situation significantly. The Commodores are 5-4 and need one win against a favorable schedule: Kentucky (2-7), Tennessee (4-6) and Wake Forest (4-6).
The SEC didn’t fill the 10th bowl spot in Shreveport, La., last season.
Vanderbilt has the inside track among the four teams trying to get to six wins and bowl eligibility. Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi State (4-5) each needs two more wins.
The Volunteers must beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky after an open date after failing to make a bowl the past two seasons.
The SEC champion will go to either the Sugar Bowl or the BCS title game in Pasadena, Calif.
Schools get anywhere from $1.175 million to $1.875 million for bowls outside the championship game, plus a travel allowance. The rest of the pie is divvied 15 ways, with one slice for each member and one for the SEC.
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