Florida-Missouri: Gators Hope To Keep Offensive Fireworks Lit For Happy Homecoming
"Florida and Missouri are two teams looking in the same direction. Both have former Sun Belt Conference Coaches of the Year looking to bring their programs to or back to prominence. Florida has been shackled by a defense that despite some pieces cannot string it all together with consistency. While Missouri has not been able to dial up big plays at crucial times offensively."
By LOREN MEADOWS
GatorBaitMedia.com Football Analyst
Both teams go looking for their first conference victories Saturday as the Florida Gators welcome the Missouri Tigers to The Swamp for an SEC East showdown and UF homecoming. Billy Napier and staff will look to continue the development of his improving team. Missouri has played two physical, heartbreaking games against conference foes the past two weeks.
Two weeks ago, the Tigers salted away a 17-14 loss at Auburn before returning home and nearly upsetting defending national champion Georgia. Missouri led for over three quarters but scored only one touchdown to fall 26-22.
With two very different but emotional losses, what type of Missouri team will arrive in Gainesville? Will two near misses keep the Tigers hungry for a win, or will a second trip in three weeks to a hostile environment be too much for Missouri? In both cases the Gators will look to take control what they can. Reestablishing the running game and getting a defense under construction to round into form.
Missouri Offense: Quarterback Brady Cook (#12, 6-2, 203) will lead the Missouri offense into The Swamp on Saturday. Through five games Cook has also shown an inability to drive the ball down the field with a pedestrian 7.1 yards per attempt. His completion percentage is a respectable 63.1 percent however he has thrown only two touchdowns against FCS opponents. Not the most explosive runner Cook can extend plays and throw on the run, which hurt Georgia at times in last weeks’ contest. In the run game Missouri has 4 returning starters on the offensive line along with two transfer backs to bolster the attack. At running back, Nathanial Peat (Stanford), and Cody Schrader (Truman State) have earned most of the carries. Peat (#8, 5-10, 198) is a Columbia, Missouri native who led the Pac-12 in kickoff returns in 2021. Schrader (#20, 5-9, 217) led all of Division II in rushing a year ago. Of the four returning offensive lineman, left tackle Javon Foster (#76, 6-5, 319) is the best of the group and a polished run blocker. The receiver group is a collection of solid players made up of Dominic Lovett (#7, 5-10, 187), Tauskie Dove#1, 6-2, 198), Barret Bannister (#11 6-0, 196), and freshman Luther Burden (#3, 5-11, 210). Former high school teammates, Lovett averages 17 yards per catch in the slot while Burden was the #1 receiver in the Class of 2022. Lovett however is questionable this week with a lower leg injury.
While there are weapons to be excited about, Missouri has underperformed offensively to this point in 2022. Nationally the Tigers rank 90th in total offense, 89th in scoring offense, and 102nd in passing offense. Welcome news for a Gator defense that despite a solid scheme and staff is ranked 108th in Total Defense. The Gators are ranked 77th in Scoring Defense, so while they do give up a ton of yards, they are forcing turnovers and four-and-outs late in drives. For the fourth time this season the Gators will face an offense that threatens your eye discipline on every play, by now they should be used to it. The Gators are not very strong against the run but young players such as Desmond Watson (#21) and Chris McLellan (#7) seem to get better every week. The matchup between the Missouri receivers and the Florida secondary will be fun to watch as both groups are talented but have had their issues. Eli Drinkwitz calls Brenton Cox Jr. and Ventrell Miller the “most disruptive player” and “best linebacker” the Tigers have played all year. It will be these two that make the difference as the elder statesmen look to handle the Tigers offense.
Missouri Defense: Ranked 39th nationally, the Missouri defense will head to Gainesville with a lot of confidence. Despite giving up 481 total yards, the Tigers defense was able to register 2 sacks, 9 tackles for loss, and 7 hurries last week against Georgia and is led by a trio of solid defenders. True to the stats, two of the main culprits are defensive ends Isaiah McGuire (#9, 6-4, 272) and Trajan Jeffcoat (#18, 6-4, 277). The duo has combined for 5.5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. The third name will be familiar to Gator fans as linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper (#8, 6-2, 220) will return to The Swamp after transferring to Missouri following the 2021 season. Hopper started four games for the Gators in 2021 and this season has totaled 32 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks which is tied for the team lead. Hopper could be tasked with “spying” Anthony Richardson at times on Saturday which in an interesting matchup. On the back end, Missouri has two solid safeties in Martez Manuel and Jaylon Carlies. Manuel (#3, 6-0, 213), is another homegrown talent with great top end speed. Carlies (#1, 6-3, 215) had a breakout game against Georgia last week totaling 13 tackles, 2.5 for loss).
New defensive coordinator Blake Baker will be tasked with slowing down a Florida offense that seems to be finding its way. Anthony Richardson is coming off of back-to-back 200-yard passing games while leading all SEC quarterbacks with 5 rushing touchdowns. With Manuel and Carlies Missouri has the safeties to crowd the line and force Anthony Richardson and Florida to earn it through the air. This should allow Florida to run play-action passes as well as look to involve Richardson in the running game. The Missouri defensive line played well last week, however the Florida offensive line has only surrendered three sacks all season and right guard O’Cyrus Torrence is the nation’s highest rated guard in the country per pro football focus. I give Florida the advantage. Ultimately, Missouri will employ what has been the blueprint since Week 1 against the Florida offense. Crowd the box, keep Anthony Richardson in the pocket and force him to make consistent throws down the field. So far two of three teams have been victorious with this formula.
The Skinny: Florida and Missouri are two teams headed in the same direction. Both have former Sun Belt Conference Coaches of the Year looking to bring their programs to or back to prominence. Florida has been shackled by a defense that despite some pieces cannot string it all together with consistency. While Missouri has not been able to dial up big plays at crucial times offensively. In most cases this would mean that we are in for a sloppy low scoring contest this weekend. However, Florida seems to be handing its new quarterback, and playmakers more of the offense each week and the execution and organizations seems to be improving. This means that the talent is free to play without thinking and Florida could be poised for a big day Saturday. This could have been labeled “Revenge of the Sith” after Drinkwitz comments following the Tigers win last season. Unfortunately, Darth Vader is gone but many of the Gators that played in the game are not. Missouri has struggled on the road at Kansas State and Auburn and The Swamp will be rocking. Between an improving Anthony Richardson and many of the enthusiastic Florida alumni at The Swamp, that’s too much for Missouri to handle. Richardson throws for two, runs for one. Gators get another pick six and the win.
Prediction: Florida 31 Missouri 17
Comments