Just seven days after letting a fourth-quarter lead slip away against Mississippi State, Missouri was back under the microscope. The Tigers stayed at No. 25 in the AP Top 25 despite the criticism, and plenty of people wondered why they were still being ranked after another letdown.
On Saturday, Missouri answered in the loudest way possible.
The Tigers rolled to a 45-17 win over No. 8 Florida, handing the Gators the biggest upset loss of the week and doing it without ever trailing. Florida came into Columbia, Missouri, riding the momentum of a 52-28 win over Ole Miss in Week 4, but that version of the Gators never showed up against Missouri.
The difference showed up immediately in the run game. Florida had been averaging 249.5 rushing yards per game before Saturday, but Missouri’s defense smothered that strength and held the Gators to just 42 rushing yards. Jadan Baugh, one of Florida’s standout backs, was limited to 13 yards on 12 carries.
Missouri’s offense was just as sharp. The Tigers piled up 560 total yards, while Florida finished with 325. After the frustration of the Week 4 loss, it was exactly the kind of response Missouri needed to get its season moving back in the right direction.
For Eli Drinkwitz, the win carried extra weight. He has taken plenty of heat for Missouri’s struggles in big games, and this one was impossible to ignore.
As Pete Nakos noted, it was Drinkwitz’s second top-10 win at Mizzou, with the first coming in the 2023 Cotton Bowl against No. 9 Ohio State.
It was also one of the biggest SEC wins of Drinkwitz’s tenure, and he had to hear the noise all week as the questions kept coming on social media.
The victory does not erase the conversation around Missouri in marquee SEC games, and it certainly does not make the rest of the season easy. The Tigers still have four games left against ranked opponents.
But if Missouri can keep stacking wins like this, the picture changes fast. A couple more victories over ranked teams, and the Tigers could find themselves in the College Football Playoff conversation in the second half of the season.
In Other News...
Mizzou Just Delivered The Bounce-Back Tigers Fans Desperately Needed
For a program looking to reset the mood in a hurry, Saturday gave Mizzou exactly the kind of response it had been searching for. The No. 25 Tigers knocked off No. 8 Florida 45-10, a result that stood out not just for the margin but for what it meant in the bigger picture, as Mizzous first regular-season win over a Top 10 opponent since 2013. It was the sort of complete performance that can change the temperature around a team in a single afternoon.
Mizzou did it by controlling the game at the line of scrimmage and making Floridas offense look out of sync from the start. The defense held star running back Jadan Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, while Jamal Roberts powered the offense with more than 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The passing game spread the ball around, Blake Craig added key field goals, and the Tigers left no doubt that this was the bounce-back performance their fans had been waiting for. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Defense Just Made A Huge Statement Against No. 8 Florida
Missouris defense delivered the kind of night that can change the way people talk about a team, smothering No. 8 Florida in a 45-17 win and making the Gators look uncomfortable from the opening stretches. The Tigers took away the run, kept Jadan Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, and made Florida chase the game while the Mizzou offense turned the stops into points and steadily pulled away.
Kensley Louidor-Faustin was part of a front that kept the pressure on Floridas quarterback and helped produce multiple sacks, a sign that Missouris pass rush and run defense were working in sync. For a team trying to build real momentum in SEC play, the larger takeaway was less about one big play than the way the Tigers controlled both lines and left a top-10 opponent with few answers. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Offense Is Becoming A Real Early Kalen DeBoer Statement
Missouris win over Florida in Week 5 did more than pad the Tigers rsum. It gave Eli Drinkwitz and his team a signature result against a ranked opponent, one built on a defense that shut down an offense that had been lighting people up and on a performance that started to shift how the national ranking conversation viewed Missouri.
Drinkwitz has spent a long stretch trying to break through in games like that, and this one carried the kind of weight that lingers beyond a single Saturday. For a program trying to build real staying power in the SEC, beating Florida in that fashion matters because it suggests Missouri can win with more than momentum, and the next challenge is proving it was not just one of those early-season statements that fades fast. [Read more 🡒]