No. 25 Missouri didn’t just beat No.
8 Florida on Saturday. It flattened the Gators, turning a 10-10 game into a 45-17 rout that sent a loud message from Columbia and handed Florida its first loss of the 2026 season.
For Eli Drinkwitz’s team, it was the kind of performance that answers a week of noise. Missouri had taken criticism for its ranking and for not doing enough against top-25 opponents. Against Florida, the Tigers backed it up with force, speed, and a defense that completely erased one of the SEC’s most talked-about running backs.
Austin Simmons set the tone early and never really let Florida settle in. The Missouri quarterback threw for 238 of his 340 yards in the first half, then finished 23 of 30 for 340 yards and two touchdowns. The Sunshine State native also had a little extra edge to the outing, reminding Gator fans why former coach Billy Napier once recruited him to UF before he flipped to Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss program and eventually landed in CoMo.
His favorite target was Cayden Lee, who caught eight passes for 110 yards.
While Simmons handled the air attack, Jamal Roberts took over on the ground. Missouri’s running back ripped off touchdown runs of 77 and 80 yards in the second half and finished with 211 yards and all three of MU’s rushing scores. He was the most dangerous runner on the field by a wide margin.
Florida came in with Jadan Baugh carrying plenty of buzz, including Heisman Trophy talk after a run of triple-digit games and multiple-touchdown performances. Missouri shut that down fast. Baugh was held to 13 yards on 12 carries, a stunning nonfactor in a game where Florida needed its ground game to steady everything.
The turning point came in the middle stretch before and after halftime. With the score tied 10-10 and 4:26 left in the half, Missouri seized control, winning the “middle 8” 17-0.
The Tigers added 10 points before the break, then opened the third quarter with a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to push the margin to 27-10 at the 12:24 mark. Florida never recovered.
Missouri kept pouring it on until the game became 35 unanswered points.
The numbers tell the story of a complete beatdown. Missouri outgained Florida 560-325 and produced 11 tackles for loss and three sacks on defense.
Now the Tigers are set up for a jump in the rankings and will try to keep the momentum going against Texas A&M in Week 6. Jon Sumrall’s Gators, meanwhile, head back home looking to regroup against South Carolina.
In Other News...
Jon Sumrall Just Made Floridas Secondary Concern Even Bigger
Floridas defense left the Missouri game with more questions than answers, and the secondary is right at the center of it. The Gators gave up five touchdowns on drives that began with a punt or kickoff, a jarring jump for a unit that was supposed to have enough talent in the back end to hold up better than that. Instead, explosive plays kept putting the defense in bad spots, and the overall result made the problems look bigger than a single busted coverage or one rough quarter.
Jon Sumrall did not try to dress it up afterward, saying there are multiple issues in the secondary and no simple fix waiting to clean them up. His message was blunt enough to make the concern feel even more real: Florida needs players to win their one-on-one battles. For a defense built with highly rated talent, that is a tough place to be, and it leaves the Gators staring at a problem that goes beyond scheme and into execution. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas Ranking Hit Looks Bad But One Result May Save Them
Floridas latest result did enough damage to raise questions about where the Gators land in the next AP Top 25, especially with several ranked teams around the country also stumbling. The poll is expected to shift only modestly after a weekend in which just three teams in the rankings lost, but Floridas own situation stands out because a rough outing can look worse when the rest of the field largely holds serve.
There is still a chance the Gators avoid a deeper slide, though, because the committee of voters has a few other results to weigh, including Pittsburgh staying unbeaten and teams such as UCLA, Kentucky and Boise State adding their own wrinkles to the picture. Mississippi State and Alabama are part of the same crowded conversation too, which is what makes Floridas place in the next poll so uncertain until the new rankings are revealed. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Sumrall Just Challenged Florida's Maturity After Its First Loss
Floridas first loss of the 2026 season landed hard, and Jon Sumrall did not soften the blow afterward. The No. 8 Gators were thumped by No. 25 Missouri, 45-17, in a game that exposed problems on both sides of the ball, with the head coach pointing directly to defensive breakdowns and an offense that never got its ground game going.
Sumralls criticism went beyond scheme and execution, getting at the bigger-picture issue of maturity after a defeat that had been building for the wrong reasons. With South Carolina, Texas and Georgia next on the schedule, Florida does not have much time to let the sting linger, and the response in the coming weeks will say plenty about how this team handles its first real setback. [Read more 🡒]