The pageantry will be familiar. The opponent is not the one Missouri would have drawn on a quieter October afternoon.
No. 25 Missouri hosts No. 8 Florida at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Faurot Field, with ABC carrying the Southeastern Conference matchup on the Tigers’ 115th Homecoming. It will be the 23rd consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium, the longest streak in program history. Florida arrives as a 5.5-point favorite, with the total sitting near 57.5.
The Gators (4-0, 2-0 SEC) are the hottest visitor Columbia has seen this fall. First-year coach Jon Sumrall, who brought a College Football Playoff résumé from Tulane, has Florida scoring 53.5 points a game — second in the country — and the floor has been 44. Last week the Gators buried then-No. 4 Ole Miss, 52-28, and jumped from No. 21 to No. 8, their highest ranking since December 2020.
Quarterback Aaron Philo has been efficient more than spectacular, completing better than 72 percent of his throws for 917 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. The real damage has come on the ground. Florida has piled up more than 1,000 rushing yards in four games, second in the SEC, with Jadan Baugh the featured back. Stopping that run game is the assignment. Doing it without both starting edge rushers makes it harder. Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen are out, as are safety JaDon Blair, offensive lineman Josh Atkins and tight end Gavin Hoffman. Running back Ahmad Hardy, a 1,600-yard rusher a year ago, is also unavailable.
Missouri (3-1, 0-1) is coming off its first loss, a 31-24 defeat at Mississippi State in which the Tigers were blanked in the first quarter and could not finish. It was the third straight game without a first-quarter point, and it extended a run of eight straight losses to ranked SEC opponents. Eli Drinkwitz, in his seventh season and already fourth on the program’s all-time wins list at 49-30, called the loss a lesson rather than a verdict.
“Losses are lessons to learn from,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s not one-and-done on any of these. It’s opportunities to go back, see where you made a mistake and try to grow from it.”
The counterargument is under center. Transfer quarterback Austin Simmons, who arrived from Ole Miss, has completed just under 65 percent of his passes for 950 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Wide receiver Donovan Olugbode has been the most consistent target. If Florida is missing Vernell Brown III — the Gators’ leading receiver, listed doubtful with a knee injury — Simmons and that receiving group have a cleaner matchup than the rankings suggest. Bailey Stockton is probable after a back issue.
The series history favors the home side, if only barely. Missouri leads 7-6, the edge coming in part from the 1965 Sugar Bowl, and the Tigers won the last meeting, 33-31, in Columbia in November 2023. Since that night Drinkwitz’s program is 32-11, fifth-best in the SEC over that span. What it has not done is beat the kind of team walking into Faurot Field on Saturday.
Florida’s defense is not flawless — it gave up 39 to Auburn on the road — but the pass rush of Jayden Woods and Emmanuel Oyebadejo has been the Gators’ clearest edge. Simmons has yet to throw an interception. That streak is the number Sumrall’s staff would most like to end.
Homecoming gives Missouri the crowd and the setting. It does not give the Tigers a healthy front or their best back. The path is narrow and specific: start faster than they have in three weeks, keep Baugh from owning the line of scrimmage, and let Simmons play the clean game he has played all month. Florida has not been held under 44. Columbia has not beaten a ranked SEC team in a long time. One of those streaks is likely to bend before the lights come on for the rest of October.
