Florida’s usually dependable defense finally collapsed against Missouri on Saturday.
Led by superb efforts from running back Henry Josey and quarterback Maty Mauk, the Tigers pummeled the Gators 36-17 in front of 67,124 at Faurot Field.
“We’ve never seen the scoreboard lit up like that on us the past two years,” defensive back Jaylen Watkins said.
Any late arrivals to Saturday’s game were in jeopardy of missing the start of No. 14 Missouri’s offensive onslaught. Mauk completed a pass to L’Damian Washington down the right sideline on the first play from scrimmage for a gain of 41 yards.
Worse for the No. 22 Gators, safety Cody Riggs was flagged and disqualified for targeting after initiating helmet-to-helmet contact with Washington while attempting to dislodge the ball on the play. Florida’s already depleted defense, which lost starters Ronald Powell and Damien Jacobs to injury during the week, grew thinner almost immediately.
“I don’t disagree with the call,” coach Will Muschamp said of Riggs being ejected. “I disagree with kicking a kid out of a game in that situation. He wasn’t maliciously trying to hurt anybody. It’s ridiculous.”
Mauk, who finished 18-of-36 passing for 295 yards in his first career start, tossed his only touchdown of the game a play later. He found Bud Sasser for a 20-yard strike in the corner of the end zone to give Missouri a 7-0 lead 22 seconds into the game.
“We’re all looking for answers right now,” Watkins said. “When we get back and get on the drawing boards and watch the film, we can actually see what was going on.”
After the initial score, the Tigers leaned on running back Henry Josey for most of the game. Josey shredded a suddenly porous Gators run defense for 136 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. His biggest gain — a 50-yard scamper in the third quarter — helped Missouri (7-0, 3-0 SEC) curtail a Florida (4-3, 3-2) comeback.
Muschamp said he can live with some of the completions his defense allowed in the passing game, but “we had six-man boxes versus a five-man front look, and we should not have been giving up what we did in the run game.”
Before last week at LSU, Florida had allowed one ball carrier — Georgia’s Todd Gurley — to gain at least 100 yards on the ground since the start of the 2012 season. Josey is now the second in as many weeks to eclipse the mark. LSU’s Jeremy Hill gashed the Gators for 121 yards Oct. 12.
Florida’s defense had two opportunities in the second half to make amends for its disastrous outing, but failed on each occasion.
Solomon Patton returned the opening kick after halftime for a touchdown to cut the Gators’ deficit to 13-10. Later in the third quarter, Kelvin Taylor punched in a 20-yard touchdown to bring Florida within 23-17.
But Missouri, which gained 500 yards of offense while snapping Florida’s 13-game streak of holding SEC opponents to 20 points or fewer, marched down the field for a touchdown following Patton’s return. The Tigers added a field goal early in the fourth quarter after Taylor’s score and scored the game’s final 13 points.
“We need to play better defensively,” Muschamp said. “We need to play the run better, take more pride in our performance and how we’re playing on the field. That falls on me. We’re going to work and we’re going to get it done.”
