What was Will Muschamp doing? Media reacts to South Carolina’s slow final drive

South Carolina kept things competitive in The Swamp facing the No. 3 Florida Gators. The Gamecocks got the ball back down 38-24 with 8:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

One would expect a team down 14 points to operate with a sense of urgency looking for a quick score. Will Muschamp’s squad, however, instead went on an 18-play, 74-yard drive that took 7:23 off the clock, doing the Gators’ job of chewing the clock for them. Adding insult to injury for South Carolina, the drive ended with a turnover on downs.

Muschamp’s clock management was called out on social media:

hang in folks, we're only an hour or so away from Muschamp saying "that's on me" when asked about 4th quarter clock management

— Graham Hall (@GrahamHall) October 3, 2020

Thanks to Muschamp for running out the clock. This is the kind of drive you need to salt a game away…..wait

— Will Miles (@WillMilesSEC) October 3, 2020

Will Muschamp’s clock management is to football, what 2020 is to everything else. AWFUL.

— Matt Barrie (@MattBarrie) October 3, 2020

Down by two touchdowns with under six minutes remaining on a running clock, for three straight snaps South Carolina snaps the ball with under 10 seconds on the play clock. The Muschamp Way.

— Inside the Gators (@InsideTheGators) October 3, 2020

Muschamp comes through with the cover! Love how they let the play clock run down to 2 on almost every play on that last drive. #SCvsUF #Gators #Gamecocks

— Chris Cato FOX 13 (@chriscato) October 3, 2020

Will Muschamp's late-game clock management is like Eagles Andy Reid on valium. #SCARvsUF

— Ben Saunders (@BSaundersSport) October 3, 2020

as a head coach, if you can't manage the clock, or understand game situations, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have on a particular side of the ball. How Will Muschamp ran that last 4 minutes is a guide on how NOT to do things in that situation.. .

— Steve Kim (Pres. of the Elija Lofton Fan Club) (@SteveKim323) October 3, 2020

bold muschamp strategy trying to run out the clock here

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) October 3, 2020

This might be the single worst exhibition of clock mismanagement I’ve ever seen. And I saw four years’ worth of it with Will Muschamp as Florida’s coach.

— InAllKindsOfWeather.com (@AllKindsWeather) October 3, 2020

Why are we running out the clock

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) October 3, 2020

Will Muschamp is an artist and whether or not you like his work is irrelevant. https://t.co/yG13BzMXm4

— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) October 3, 2020

I think that was something like a 19-play drive. When down by 2 TDs in the 4th quarter. So bizarre. Is Muschamp like this a lot these days with clock management?

— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomon35) October 3, 2020

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.