Mizzou Football dropped a 41-17 decision at No. 10/9 Florida Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The loss snapped a two-game Mizzou winning streak as the Tigers fall to 2-3 on the season. Florida improves to 3-1 on the year.
Mizzou got a pick-six score from junior CB Jarvis Ware but failed to get much going offensively. Junior LB Nick Bolton continued his All-SEC caliber season with 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss as he continues to lead the team in tackling this season.
Sophomore LB Devin Nicholson posted a career-high 13 tackles as well, his second double-digit tackle outing this season.
On each of Florida's first two offensive series, the Gators drove the ball down into the red zone. Coming into the game, Florida had converted touchdowns on 12-of-15 red zone appearances, settling for field goals just three times. But that's exactly what Mizzou forced Florida to do on each of those drives, keeping Mizzou in the game with Florida leading 6-0 after the first quarter.
Mizzou then grabbed momentum midway through the second quarter, thanks to an incredible effort by the defense. Junior All-SEC LB Nick Bolton broke through the Florida line and got a hand on Florida QB Kyle Trask's arm as he unloaded, causing an underthrow, which was read by Mizzou CB Jarvis Ware.
Ware, a Florida native, slowed up and caught the short throw for an interception and returned it 59 yards for a score, giving Mizzou a 7-6 lead. It was Mizzou's first interception since last year at Vanderbilt, snapping a nine-game streak without a pick. It was Mizzou's first pick-six since Cale Garrett had one against Troy last year .
Florida tacked on a TD on an 18-yard screen pass from Trask to Kadarius Toney to take a 13-7 late in the quarter. Mizzou tried to go up-tempo on the ensuing possession, but a third-and-one fumble gave Florida the ball back deep in Mizzou territory. Florida added another TD, this time a 30-yard strike from Trask to Toney, on the very next play and took a 20-7 lead into the half.
The Gators added another Toney score to open the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Both Mizzou and Florida may be facing a slew of suspensions, following a massive brawl prior to halftime. Following a big hit on Trask, both the Tigers and Gators exchanged words at midfield, and punches were thrown by both teams.
Head coaches Dan Mullen of Florida and Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri were seen exchanging words, the brawl ending with Mullen pumping up the crowd as he ran into the tunnel
Mizzou will be on a scheduled bye week next weekend before returning home to play No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 14. The time and TV designation for that contest will be set on Monday.