David Jones

FLORIDA TODAY

GAINESVILLE – The University of Florida's 2014 football season officially begins with the start of fall practice on Aug. 4. The buildup to the season opener on Aug. 30 against Idaho figures to be massive and will only escalate from there.

On Sept. 20 and Oct. 4, the Gators play at Alabama and Tennessee, followed by Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 games against LSU and Missouri. Before Halloween, everyone should have a pretty good idea if Will Muschamp has a future at Florida.

Muschamp's three years in Gainesville have been puzzling. The 2012 club went 11-1 in the regular season, and if the current playoff system had been in place, the Gators would have played Notre Dame in the national semifinals. Instead, the program seems to have collapsed since — getting blown out by Louisville in the Sugar Bowl, and last year's 4-8 finish riddled by injuries, leading to a new offensive coordinator (Kurt Roper) and serious doubts if Florida needs change.

"There will be a lot of chatter about hot seat business," confesses Muschamp of his own future. "That's part of it. The way you combat that is having a winning football team and winning football games, which is what we're going to do. I've got a lot of confidence in this team and staff. This is probably the most complete team we've had since I've been at the University of Florida in all three phases."

What has to happen for Muschamp to save his job? There's no question he has to win at least eight games, no matter what. Injuries and the impressive 2012 record gave Muschamp some time. But the clock is now ticking.

Here's what has to happen for the Gators to right the ship and Muschamp to move on into 2015:

• 1. Roper better be good. He led the offense that enabled Duke to reach surprising success last year

"In making that change, I felt like Kurt Roper was a great hire for us from a standpoint of a guy that philosophically is on the same page with me as to what we want to be — a balanced offense," Muschamp said. "Last year at Duke University, he had over 20 rushing touchdowns, over 20 passing touchdowns. That's the type of balance I think we'll need in our league. We've been too one-dimensional on offense."

PREDICTION: Don't expect miracles.

Expect the Gators to pile up big numbers early in the season against easier teams than the brick wall that is Alabama, which welcomes Florida to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 20. That could very well be the game that starts the end for Muschamp if his team isn't better prepared by then.

• 2. Driskel better be good. The redshirt junior came to Florida with the hype that he would be the future and performed well in 2012. But a season-ending leg injury three games into 2013 left the Gators without any offensive steam and more injuries to other key players made it even worse.

But reality is that Driskel was trapped in a bad offense. It didn't match his talents and opposing teams had little problem figuring out Florida's offense that ranked 14th in the SEC in scoring (18.8) and total offense (316.7).

"We needed to make some changes on offense. I felt like our kids had lost confidence in some things we were doing offensively," Muschamp said. "I went back and looked at our numbers from 2012 when we were in the shotgun as opposed to being under center. When Jeff was in the shotgun, our yards were better, our explosive plays were better in both the run and pass game. He was recruited to Florida to be a gun quarterback."

PREDICTION: Driskel will make a difference, but he has never been a quarterback who can take over a game and dominate like so many previous Gators. The solution could be to get freshman Will Grier ready to play ... and play him. That could help offset some of Driskel's limitations and make Florida more dynamic when it struggles.

• 3. The offensive line must improve. Florida allowed 27 sacks and finished the season with a third-team quarterback running the offense. It got so bad, the Gators had to take a collection of walk-ons to the South Carolina road game as backups at QB.

The Gators were last in the SEC in red zone offense, the worst in the conference in penalties, 11th in third down conversion and tied with Vanderbilt for the worst in the league in yards per rushing attempt.

That falls back on the fact that UF was predictable and couldn't block anybody. Chaz Green missed the entire season, D.J. Humphries played five games. Those are the starting tackles. The focus will also be on Max Garcia playing center for the first time in his life. Those three have to have their best seasons and stay healthy.

PREDICTION: It will be average at best. But Roper can live with that since his offense requires getting the ball out of the backfield in three seconds or less with not a real complicated blocking scheme.

• 4. Vernon Hargreaves III needs to step up. As a freshman, he was a third-team All-American in the secondary. Now he has to take it to another level.

Florida was a middle of the pack defense last year and lacked that big time impact player. That has to be Hargreaves this season.

PREDICTION: While there's so much focus on the offense, the defense could ultimately be the reason for Muschamp's departure. UF's defense folded in the second half several times last season and there's no proof those exact same players can become radically better this fall.

• 5. Success early is a must. The Gators have a stretch of seven straight games in which they could be playing ranked teams. Muschamp's job will probably hinge on how well UF handles adversity because it is highly doubtful the Gators will make it through that stretch without at least one or two setbacks.

If the Gators struggle early and Muschamp can't right the ship, he won't be back in 2015. And it's certain there will be a lot of adversity in October and November. If Florida doesn't have a good September, the coaching search starts before the air starts to cool in October.

Looking at you

FLORIDA TODAY will be previewing the rest of the SEC teams over the next two weeks, with each team available on the Website. The schedule:

Today: Florida

Saturday: Alabama

Sunday: Auburn

Monday: Texas A&M

Tuesday: Tennessee

Wednesday: Mississippi State

Thursday: LSU

Aug. 1: South

Carolina

Aug. 2: Georgia

Aug. 3: Kentucky

Aug. 4: Arkansas

Aug. 5: Ole Miss

Aug. 6: Vanderbilt

Aug. 7: Missouri