Why Muschamp wasn’t after officials after possible Florida fumble

South Carolina’s 35-31 loss to the Florida Gators in some ways swung on a “freak” play.

But even after the bad snap, the unlikely pass and finally the catch off a tipped ball, the oddity of the play didn’t end at the whistle. Afterward Trevon Grimes appeared to get stripped of the ball.

Some of the players acted like it was a fumble, which USC appeared to recover.

While you’d expected Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp to be hot about the play, he wasn’t dwelling on it.

“The whistle had blown,” Muschamp said. “But they review every play in the box. We have people that are reviewing. It’s harder on the road because you don’t get the same looks. And so in that situation they’re reviewing every play, and I had communication with the official on the field that the play was being reviewed. And they didn’t stop play. If it was a question, they would’ve stopped play.”

He added to the point by saying unlike the NFL, he doesn’t have a flag to throw, and didn’t think he had the grounds for some kind of challenge, even if he did call a timeout.

Had things gone the other way, USC would have had the ball in Florida territory up 17 with fewer than 20 minutes left. Instead, the Gators scored on that drive and the next two, ripping off the final 21 points of the game.

Muschamp focused more on tackling than any questions about the play.

“They didn’t think there was an issue from the box,” Muschamp said. “I’m not going to waste a timeout in that time in the game to try to delay more time for them to look at it. I had communication with the official and he told me they’re looking at it. The whistle had blown. That’s what I thought.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 10:25 AM.