The South Carolina football team left Williams-Brice Stadium with a dominant win over their SEC rival Florida on Saturday in what was the Gamecocks’ most convincing drubbing of the Gators in the history of the series.
It was a surprising result considering the Gators entered the matchup as three-touchdown favorites but left with a 23-point defeat. That wasn’t the only surprise of the night, though, with Florida head coach Dan Mullen dropping a major bomb after the game.
Mullen mentioned that 20 to 30 players on the Gator roster tested positive for the flu throughout the week, including starting quarterback Emory Jones, who tested positive the morning of the game. This coming shortly after stating that his team had “a great attitude this week.”
Mullen really told the media that we had a great week of practice when 20 guys had the flu lol
— SBG (@ORLGators) November 7, 2021
It’s no doubt that the flu could have an affect on the team’s performance, particularly if the virus was spread through a third of the team, but unfortunately, it comes off as another way for Mullen to place the blame elsewhere for the Gators’ poor play.
Mullen is known for coming up with excuses when his program loses, most recently in a loss to Oklahoma last December. Following the 55-20 blowout, the head coach said that the “last game that the 2020 team played was 11 days ago ” and that he was playing scout team players for most of the game.
I guess that would make the Gators 4-6 on the 2021 season?
It also seems a bit odd that he’d immediately fire two coaches on staff if the team was as ravished by the flu as he led on. The firings, again, come off as a way to escape blame by throwing someone else under the bus.
Either way, the credit can’t be taken away from the Gamecocks, who hit the Gators in the mouth early and never let up. This is a win that Shane Beamer can build upon while the heat turns up on Mullen, who also had an excuse for not sticking around for the alma mater following the embarrassing defeat.
Dan Mullen 20-ish minutes ago: "To be honest with you, I didn't even know we had our band here today with that." https://t.co/6YfVNkSoJw
— Zach Goodall (@zach_goodall) November 7, 2021
We’ll have to wait and see whether this ultimately plays out for both programs. Gamecock fans are hoping that it becomes a springboard for the future as they look to prove that it wasn’t just a matter of the circumstances laid out by Mullen.