Mizzou knocks off Florida in OT

Well that was certainly a game, wasn’t it? After an ugly game the Missouri Tigers now 6-5 overall and 3-4 within the SEC, beat the Florida Gators 24-23. The Gators fall to 5-6 on the season and 2-6 in the SEC. Dan Mullen’s seat is only going to get hotter after that game that saw the Florida offense struggle with a capital S against a Tiger defense that has been awful for most of the season. Give Steve Wilks a lot of credit though, he has really turned this defense around and has been rewarded for it with two straight wins in SEC play including this one in overtime.

Now, why was this game so ugly? YOur eyes must turn to the offenses. The Gators offense did manage to put up 360 yards of total offense; they were just 5-of-18 on 3rd down and that really held them back. Emory Jones’ numbers look fine (20/32 for 261 yards). However, if you take away the 50 he got on a goofy end of the half play and the stat line looks 19/31 for 211 yards and that doesn’t nearly look as good and is much more reflective of his game. Jones also led the Gators in rushing with 45 yards on 17 carries as the Gators only averaged 2.4 yards a carry on 38 attempts.

Their putrid offensive performance was almost saved by an equally putrid offensive performance by Missouri and good defense by the Gators. Eliah Drinkwitz held a QB competition this week and Connor Bazelak came out the winner and still looked awful for the most part. Bazelak finished 15/26 for 165 yards and a TD, but like Jones take away a 50-yard jump ball that was completed and the stat line is much more representative of how he played. The difference was in the 2nd half Tyler Badie came alive after being almost completely shut down in the first half. Badie ran the ball 27 times for 146 yards. He put in the touchdown from 13 yards out in overtime when Drinkwitz decided to go for 2 and got it when Bazelak found Daniel Parker open in the endzone.

Dan Mullen must now face even more questions about his job status. The heat was on according to most sources and after another ugly loss, the heat will only be turned up. Mullen made a very questionable decision at the end of the game. After Harrison Mevis missed a field goal that would have given Mizzou the lead the Gators got the ball back with a little over a minute left at the 29-yard line. The Gator offense proceeded to not even play for the win and conceded overtime where they eventually would lose.

The Gators will have one more shot to get to bowl eligibility when they head home to take on Florida State in their rivalry game next Saturday. While the Tigers will prepare to face Arkansas on the road on Black Friday.