A road win in the SEC is always a good thing. Especially when the opponent has beaten you the last two years. Now, add in the dynamic of how tough Missouri had been playing at home (5-0) and you have a good reason to be satisfied. Florida certainly wasn’t crisp but did grind all day. Finally, in the third quarter, the Gators made a couple of big plays on offense to take control. From there smothering defense and steady offense closed out the 23 - 6 win.
The Florida highlights included great run defense and very solid pass defense. Missouri managed less than 2 yards rushing per carry and completed only two pass completions for longer than 12 yards. The Florida defense stuffed the Tigers for negative yardage on an impressive 9 plays. Tiger quarterback, Kelly Bryant, was frequently able to elude the Gator pass rush but wasn’t able to deliver big plays. On offense, the good Gator news was a success on first down plays and solid field position football. Missouri began just two drives beyond their own 25-yard line (once in Gator territory). Statistically, Kyle Trask was good against Missouri’s highly regarded pass defense. As is typical, special teams were better than solid for the Gators. Evan McPherson made all of his placekicks, Freddie Swain handled all nine Tiger punts cleanly, and Tommy Townsend averaged 45 net yards per punt despite a twenty-eight yarder (big backward bounce).
Areas, where Florida struggled today, were mostly on the offensive side of the ball. The inside run game, as usual, was absent. Trask held the ball too long several times in the first half and gave up sacks. He also had a couple of passes that should have been intercepted. The Florida receivers had a number of (uncharacteristic) drops. Of the Gator’s six penalties for 64 yards, three were poise related.
The Gator win sets up an excellent opportunity for a ten-win regular season. Florida will likely be a double-digit favorite at home against FSU in two weeks. News on the extent of the Campbell injury won’t be available until Monday. Hopefully, Jabari Zuniga is healthy for the FSU game.