By the Numbers: How Missouri Flipped Florida’s Script

Nobody slowed Florida's offense for four games. Missouri did it in one afternoon in Columbia, and the numbers show how far the No. 8 Gators fell in their first loss of the season.

Florida came to Faurot Field averaging 53.5 points and 532.8 yards per game, second nationally in scoring and fifth in total offense, according to floridagators.com. It left with 17 points and 325 yards.

The ground game vanished

Through four games, Florida averaged 260.0 rushing yards and 5.9 yards per carry. On Saturday it ran 25 times for 42 yards. That's 1.7 a carry.

It was the first time in 11 games the Gators were held under 100 rushing yards, according to UF.

Jadan Baugh arrived averaging 7.2 yards per carry. His first carry went for 12. Over his last 11 he gained one yard, finishing with 13 yards on 12 carries, and his streak of five straight 100-yard games was over. Missouri's run defense had been allowing 2.8 yards per carry coming in. Florida didn't come close to that.

With no run game, Aaron Philo threw a season-high 34 passes. He completed 21 for 197 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked three times.

"At the end of the day, running or passing, we've got to be able to move the ball down the field, and that's on me," Philo said, according to the Gainesville Sun.

Where drives died

Florida got to the red zone twice and came away with a touchdown and a field goal.

The field goal finished the opening drive, a 15-play, 73-yard march that took 6:54 off the clock. A third-and-goal throw from the Missouri 2 fell incomplete, and Florida settled for a 20-yarder.

Florida was 6 of 16 on third down. Missouri was 7 of 13. By GatorBait's math from UF's season totals, the Gators had converted 21 of 44 third downs through their first four games.

Florida drew eight flags for 80 yards to Missouri's four for 50. Two hurt. A personal foul on Aaron Chiles tacked 15 yards onto Missouri's first drive of the second half, moving the Tigers from the Florida 34 to the 19, and Jamal Roberts scored two plays later. An illegal formation call wiped out a 21-yard catch by Eric Singleton Jr.

A month of defense, gone in an afternoon

Missouri gained 560 yards, 220 on the ground. Florida had allowed 1,405 total yards and 412 rushing yards in its first four games combined (GatorBait arithmetic from UF's season totals). In one afternoon, Missouri piled up nearly 40% of the first number and more than half of the second.

Missouri averaged 8.5 yards per play. Florida averaged 5.1. By GatorBait's count from ESPN's play-by-play, eight Missouri plays went for 20 yards or more and totaled 343 yards, about three-fifths of the Tigers' offense. Two of them were Roberts runs of 77 and 80 yards.

Roberts finished with 211 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. Austin Simmons completed 23 of 30 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns.

It was 10-10 with 4:26 left in the second quarter. Missouri scored the next 35 points. Florida didn't score again until 47 seconds remained.

"As a defense, sometimes the offense needs to lean on us. We can't always depend on them to put up 40, 50 points a game. Sometimes we got to keep us in the game. I take full accountability." Florida linebacker Myles Graham, according to the Orlando Sentinel

Past the box score

DraftKings had Florida as a 5.5-point favorite, according to ESPN. The Gators lost by 28.

The win was Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz's first regular-season victory over a top-10 team in 11 tries, according to The Associated Press. It also snapped the Tigers' nine-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

What's next

Watch Florida's rushing total. The ground game carried the offense for a month, and the Gators need it back at home.

Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) hosts South Carolina for homecoming Saturday, Oct. 10. Kickoff time and TV are TBA.

The Gamecocks are 2-3 and 0-3 in the SEC. Their last time out, they led No. 24 Kentucky 17-0 and lost 35-34 in overtime.

Sources: ESPN's game summary, box score and play-by-play (event 401856708), including its team stats and DraftKings line; ESPN's pre-Missouri team stats and Aaron Philo's 2026 game log; the official UF box score and season cumulative stats on floridagators.com; UF game notes; Chris Harry's "FINAL: Missouri 45, Florida 17" Quick Slant on floridagators.com; and The Associated Press game story. Quotes from full articles in the Gainesville Sun (Kevin Brockway) and the Orlando Sentinel (Edgar Thompson). Figures labeled GatorBait arithmetic or GatorBait's count were calculated by GatorBait from those sources; no source published them as stats.