The Florida Gators defeated the Missouri Tigers 24-17 on Saturday. Florida has won its first conference game, and the Gators will face the LSU Tigers next week. Although Florida didn’t play great in this matchup, the team played its appropriate style of football and had the right recipe to win the game. Here’s a quick recap of Florida’s win over Missouri.
Impressive Rushing Attack
Once again, Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne showed out. They combined for nearly 170 yards and a touchdown. Honestly, they were the entirety of Florida’s offense, for Anthony Richardson struggled when passing.
On the other side, Missouri had Nathaniel Peat who finished with 20 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown. This game felt like a flashback to a decade back when smashmouth football defined the SEC.
Gators’ Defense Improving
While Peat had a good performance, Florida’s defense did a decent job of stopping Brady Cook. Cook ended with over 200 passing yards, but the Gators did get two interceptions. Cook looked good against Georgia’s pass defense last week, so that goes to show that Florida kept a great receiving attack in check.
Even though Missouri did not exactly have a balanced offense, the Tigers’ gameplan was quite sufficient to move the ball down field. It will be interesting to see how the Gators’ defense adjusts to stop a running quarterback and unique offense in LSU next Saturday.
Concluding Thoughts
All in all, the Florida Gators should definitely be happy with this win against Missouri; nothing comes easy in the SEC. The road does not get easier from here, and players will have to step up for Florida to continue to compete.
Anthony Richardson, who finished with only 66 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception, has been a bit sloppy midway through the season, so let’s see how Billy Napier and his staff will clean his mistakes up before the bye week. If this team can ever play a complete game, the college football world will see how dominant this squad can be on any given Saturday.