The homecoming crowd at Faurot Field came looking for a statement. No. 25 Missouri delivered one, and then kept delivering it.
Austin Simmons threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns, Jamal Roberts ran for 211 yards and three scores, and the Tigers dismantled eighth-ranked Florida 45-17 on Saturday, snapping a nine-game skid against ranked opponents and handing the Gators their first loss of the season.
Missouri (4-1, 1-1 SEC) piled up 560 yards, scored 35 unanswered after the game was tied at 10, and gave coach Eli Drinkwitz his first regular-season win over a top-10 team in 11 tries. Florida (4-1, 2-1), a week removed from a 52-28 demolition of then-No. 4 Ole Miss, managed 325 yards and just 42 on the ground.
“You either humble yourself or you will get humbled,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall had said earlier in the week. On a sunny afternoon in Columbia, the Gators were humbled.
The first quarter was a field-goal duel. Peyton Durkin’s 20-yarder put Florida up 3-0, and Blake Craig answered from 32 to tie it. Then Simmons took over. He hit Donovan Olugbode for a 47-yard touchdown to make it 10-3, and after Aaron Philo found D. Wilson for a 12-yard score to knot it at 10, Simmons answered again — a 31-yard strike to Caleb Goodie for a 17-10 lead. Craig’s 50-yarder as the first half expired made it 20-10, the product of a two-minute drill after Florida went three-and-out.
The second half was a parade. Roberts scored from 5 yards on the opening possession of the third quarter. Craig drilled a 52-yarder to make it 30-10. Late in the quarter Roberts spun out of a pile and ripped off a long run that set up a 1-yard plunge on the first play of the fourth; Simmons found Cayden Lee for the two-point conversion and a 38-10 lead. One snap later, Roberts was gone again — 80 yards, untouched — and the place came unglued. It was 45-10 with 13:33 left.
Roberts finished with 24 carries and all three of his touchdowns after halftime. Lee had eight catches for 110 yards. Simmons was efficient and aggressive, working every level of a Gators secondary missing Bryce Thornton and Dijon Johnson.
Florida never found an answer. Philo finished 21 of 34 for 197 yards and a touchdown, most of it while chasing the game. Jadan Baugh, who had scored 11 times in the first four weeks and drawn early Heisman chatter, carried 12 times for 13 yards. Backup Tramell Jones Jr. hit TJ Abrams for a 42-yard score with 47 seconds left. It changed the final margin. It did not change the afternoon.
Missouri had arrived in need of a reset after a late collapse at Mississippi State. It left with the program’s most lopsided win over an AP top-10 opponent and a sold-out homecoming still roaring. The celebration will be short. Texas A&M comes to Faurot Field next Saturday. Florida gets South Carolina at home.
