No. 25 Missouri trounces No. 8 Florida, snaps 9-game skid vs. top 25 foes
Missouri running back Jamal Roberts scores on an 80-yard run during the second half Saturday in Columbia, Mo. ©Jeff Roberson
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Austin Simmons threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns, Jamal Roberts ran for 211 yards and three more scores, and No. 25 Missouri trounced eighth-ranked Florida 45-17 on Saturday to snap a nine-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
Cayden Lee had eight catches for 110 yards, and Donovan Olugbode and Caleb Goodie Jr. had TD receptions as the Tigers piled up 560 yards of offense and gave coach Eli Drinkwitz his first regular-season win over a top-10 team in 11 tries with them.
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Missouri (4-1, 1-1 SEC) bounced back from its late collapse at Mississippi State by shutting down one of the nation's top offenses.
Gators quarterback Aaron Philo threw for 197 yards and a touchdown, but much of that happened as they played from behind. Jadan Baugh, who had been receiving some early Heisman Trophy hype after running for 11 touchdowns over his first four games, carried 12 times for only 13 yards, often struggling to even make it back to the line of scrimmage.
Florida running back Jadan Baugh is kept out of the end zone by Missouri linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez, left, during the first half.
The Gators (4-1, 2-1), who routed No. 4 Mississippi last week, had been averaging 532.8 yards of total offense. They had 325 on Saturday, resulting in the second-most lopsided SEC loss in school history; they lost 63-14 to Auburn in 1970.
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The Tigers clearly prioritized bottling up Baugh, the nation's second-leading rusher, especially after watching him rip off a 12-yard gain the first time he touched the ball. He carried 11 more times for exactly 1 yard the rest of the game.
Florida didn't appear to prioritize stopping anything.
Simmons was 16 of 21 for 238 yards with two TDs in the first half alone, slinging the ball to all corners of the field. He hit Olugbode for a 47-yard strike and a 10-3 lead, then delivered Goodie his first career touchdown reception later in the half.
It was a handful of possessions spanning halftime that decided the game, though.
Florida quarterback Aaron Philo is sacked by Missouri defensive tackle Sterling Webb (90) during the second half.
The Gators went three-and-out late in the first half, giving the Tigers the ball with 1:33 left, and Blake Craig's 50-yarder as the clock hit zeros made it 20-10. Then, after receiving the kickoff to start the second half, Roberts added a short TD run, the Tigers forced a quick punt, and Craig banged through a 52-yarder to make it 30-10 late in the third quarter.
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The coup de grâce came on the penultimate play of the quarter, when Roberts spun out of a pileup and ran 76 yards, getting shoved out at the Florida 2. On the first play of the fourth, he slammed into the end zone, and a 2-point conversion made it 38-10.
As if the Tigers needed an exclamation mark, Roberts added it with an 80-yard touchdown run a couple of minutes later.
By that point, the Tigers were mockingly chomping at the Gators, who have struggled mightily in Columbia over the years. They have now lost four of their last five games at Faurot Field — though unlike the rest, this one didn't come down to the wire.
Injury issues
Florida played without wide receiver Vernell Brown III, who led the Gators with 17 catches for 271 yards along with two touchdown catches and two punt return TDs in his first four games. Brown has been dealing with a strained right knee.
Missouri was missing starting edge rushers Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen, both of whom have lower body injuries.
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