Live blog from Saturday’s homecoming football game between Missouri and No. 13 Florida at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium:
First quarter
Freshman kicker Evan McPherson gave UF the 3-0 lead at the 7:18 mark with a 32-yard field goal.
Larry Rountree ran in from 27 yards out on Missouri’s ensuing possession to cap a quick nine-play, 76-yard drive in 3:27 for a 7-3 Tigers lead.
What went right: Feleipe Franks had a nice 17-yard pass to Van Jefferson on the first drive, the Gators turned a short field into a 32-yard field goal by Evan McPherson for an early lead and safety Shawn Davis came up with a tackle for loss (minus five yards) to end a Missouri scoring threat in the closing seconds of the quarter. That was about it.
What went wrong: After getting off to a strong start, the Florida defense cracked big-time when the Tigers sped the game up by going up-tempo. Almost easily, the Tigers drove 75 yards for a touchdown in nine plays, the TD coming on a 27-yard run by Larry Rountree III, who sprinted through a gaping hole on the left side. The defense was off balance throughout the remainder of the quarter. The UF defensive front put zero pressure on Drew Lock and was getting gashed in the run game. Bad combination.
Play of the quarter: For UF, it had to be the McPherson field goal. For Missouri, it was Rountree’s TD burst.
Trending: The Tigers, on both sides of the ball. The defense had trouble coping with the balanced Missouri offense and the offense was going nowhere.
— Robbie Andreu
Missouri   7
Florida    3
Second quarter
Quarterback Drew Lock hit tight end Albert Okwuegbunam with a 22-yard scoring pass play to put Missouri up 14-3 with 13:12 left in the half to cap a 43-yard, four-play drive in 47 seconds.
Damarea Crockett scored from four yards out at the 6:06 mark for a 21-3 Missouri lead. The score capped a seven-play, 78-yard drive in 3:22.
Franks rushed in from three yards out to cut the deficit to 21-10 with 1:42 left and capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive. A 27-yard pass from Franks to Kadarius Toney highlighted the drive.
What went right: Just when it looked liked the Gators were on the verge of getting blown out, Franks and the offense responded with a much-needed 75-yard touchdown drive in the closing minutes of the half to make it a 21-10 game. Franks, booed earlier in the quarter, was cheered when he scored on a 3-yard run with 1:42 to play. That drive was pretty much the only thing that went right, but it was big.
What went wrong: Before that late drive, everything went wrong. The defense could not stop Missouri, giving up multiple explosive plays and looking pretty helpless on two touchdown drives. Offensively, the Gators did nothing, with the running game getting stuffed and Franks way off on his accuracy. The boo birds came out, directing their ire at the redshirt sophomore.
Play of the quarter: An excellent catch on the sideline by Kadarius Toney for a 27-yard gain to the Missouri 12 that led to the Franks TD three plays later.
Trending: The Tigers have looked like the much better team, but the Gators got back in the game with the late TD drive.
— Robbie Andreu
Missouri   7  14
Florida    3   7
Third quarter
Lock had all day to find Kam Scott for a 41-yard TD pass in the end zone to put Missouri up 28-10 at the 10:02 mark and capped an eight-play, 66-yard drive in 3:48. Lock in this game — 19-of-25 for 189 yards and two TDs.
Missouri’s offensive line has been a difference-maker in this game. Protecting Lock, getting push in the running game.
Injury update on Tigers:Â Okwuegbunam is out with a bruised right shoulder and running back Tyler Badie suffered a sprained foot. Both are out for the game.
Lock connected with Emanuel Hall for a 4-yard TD for a 35-10 lead at the 5:00 mark. The score capped a 49-yard drive after UF was called for two penalties.
Kyle Trask replaces Franks at QB.
Trask connected with Josh Hammond for a 7-yard TD pass with :20 left to culminate a 13-play, 75-yard drive and cut the deficit to 35-17. Trask converted two fourth-down plays. It was Trask’s first career TD pass.
What went right: It may sound a little harsh, but what went right is coach Dan Mullen benched Franks and replaced him with Kyle Trask late in the quarter. Trask provided a big spark and got the crowd back into the game, driving the Gators 75 yards for a touchdown, converting two fourth downs with pass completions to Trevon Grimes and Hammond, whose catch for a 7-yard touchdown made it a 35-17 game.
What went wrong: A better way to look at it might be what went right? Almost nothing, except the late QB switch. Before that, the Gators got pushed around on both sides of the ball with alarming ease. The defense had no answer for Lock and the Missouri skill players and the offense went nowhere with Franks struggling.
Play of the quarter: A 13-yard pass from Trask to Grimes that converted a fourth-and-3 from the Missouri 22 that kept the TD drive alive.
Trending: Trask.
–– Robbie Andreu
Missouri   7  14  14
Florida    3   7   7
Fourth quarter
Tucker McCann’s 40-yard field goal with 9:08 remaining puts Missouri up 38-17 and capped a 12-play, 53-yard drive that took 6:12 off the clock.
What went right: The Gators somehow held the potent Tigers to a mere field goal. That’s about it.
What went wrong: The offense went back into stall mode and the defense continued having problems getting off the field, surrendering third-down conversion after third-down conversion. So the momentum gained late in the third quarter quickly vanished and there was never any threat of a miracle comeback by the Gators.
Play of the quarter: A 45-yard pass from Trask to Toney. It was meaningless, coming in the final minutes, but it looked good. And perhaps it will help Trask remain the No. 1 QB heading into next week.
— Robbie Andreu
Florida falls to 6-3 overall, 4-3 in the SEC, while Missouri wins its first league game of the season to improve to 5-4, 1-4. The Gators host South Carolina next Saturday. Kickoff and TV network is TBA. Missouri hosts Vandy.
Missouri   7  14  14  3 — 38
Florida    3   7   7  0 — 17
| Missouri | 7 | 14 | 14 | 3—38 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0—17 |
| First Quarter |
FLA_FG McPherson 32, 7:18
MIZ_Rountree 27 run (McCann kick), 3:46
| Second Quarter |
|---|
MIZ_Okwuegbunam 22 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 13:12
MIZ_Crockett 4 run (McCann kick), 6:06
FLA_Franks 3 run (McPherson kick), 1:42
| Third Quarter |
|---|
MIZ_K.Scott 41 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 10:02
MIZ_E.Hall 4 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 5:00
FLA_Hammond 7 pass from Trask (McPherson kick), :20
| Fourth Quarter |
|---|
MIZ_FG McCann 40, 9:08
| MIZ | FLA | |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 22 | 17 |
| Rushes-yards | 42-221 | 28-113 |
| Passing | 250 | 210 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 24-32-0 | 19-40-0 |
| Return Yards | 42 | 0 |
| Punts-Avg. | 6-42.66 | 7-41.85 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 11-84 | 8-66 |
| Time of Possession | 34:36 | 25:24 |
| INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS |
|---|
RUSHING_Missouri, Crockett 21-114, Rountree 14-72, Lock 5-19, Badie 1-18, (Team) 1-(minus 2). Florida, Perine 10-42, Scarlett 6-33, Toney 3-23, Franks 3-17, D.Pierce 4-9, Trask 2-(minus 11).
PASSING_Missouri, Lock 24-32-0-250. Florida, Franks 9-22-0-84, Trask 10-18-0-126.
RECEIVING_Missouri, J.Johnson 5-47, E.Hall 4-77, Okwuegbunam 4-46, Rountree 4-10, Gicinto 2-10, K.Scott 1-41, Banister 1-12, Knox 1-6, D.Parker 1-3, Crockett 1-(minus 2). Florida, Hammond 5-48, V.Jefferson 4-33, Toney 2-72, Grimes 2-23, Scarlett 2-16, D.Pierce 1-9, Cleveland 1-7, Gamble 1-3, Lewis 1-(minus 1).
MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.
Florida continues to throw sideline to sideline. Who brought MAC back?
And it continues into the second quarter. Awful.
Gator Steve, the UF passing game has been mostly horizontal since the 2010 season. The only time it wasn’t, imo, was the six game span at the start of the 2015 season, under Mac, when Grier was the QB. My concern with CDM as coach was/is the focus on a running QB and a horizontal passing game with only the occasional deep shot to keep the D honest. Obviously, he can’t do that with Franks or Trask, but Jones seems to fit the bill as a running QB. It remains to be seen if Jones can throw the ball well enough to succeed in Mullen’s offense, but I don’t think the vertical passing game (15-20 yards downfield) is going to be a significant feature of any CDM offense.
Missouri playing 9 guys in the box. Nobody afraid of Franks.
Gonna be a long game. Time to go weed. See you all. It’s yours.
So far it looks like last year’s team. Franks having another weak performance. DL and lbs getting beat.
New week and Franks still stinks.
We’ve had a good record the first 6 games of the season the last 5 years. Afterwards, not so much.
Agreed but it’s set up to go a little better this year. Still nervous about qb
Florida has to bench Franks. The offense needs a spark. He’s inept as a passer. If Florida is going to continue to try to throw downfield, give another qb a try. Have to do something different.
Did you see Jefferson’s expression on that bad pass?
Qb can’t be your weak link, especially against a team where qb is a srength. Franks has to snap out of it. No controll so far.
This game will be Mullen’s loss. He has to take responsibility for this collapse. Gators will finish 7-5.
Games not over. Disappointed in all so far.
Wow, sure looks just like last year’s team today. Why on earth will coach not give another QB a shot? Franks has been awful.
We need a spark. Mullen has to bench Franks and should have already done it. Spurrier would have already made the move and that’s an indication of Mullens in game coaching ability. Franks clearly is not playing well and you have to take him out.
Franks is playing as well as he is capable of playing.
Which is not good enough!
Finally, Felipe DOES make a throw. He can power the ball, just looks so bad on throws that require
touch.
Must admit though that you cannot fault Franks’ level of EFFORT. He does indeed do all he can for the team. I just fear that he is never going to acquire the field vision and accuracy needed to become a quality QB.
LOL….what does Franks have to do to get benched. Assault….robbery….arson? Missouri is a horrible team and we are making them look like the L.A. Rams.
Team hit a wall 2 games ago. Defense stopped getting turnovers and offense started making turnovers. This team just isn’t going to win many games without defensive points or meaningful defensive turnovers.
First drives of the 2nd half for both sides of the ball need to be strong. Hopefully the D can come up with a couple turnovers in the 2nd half to give us some short fields to work with. C’mon Gators, get up and go!!
Franks is horrible. He has missed open receivers all over the field. It’s past time to replace him. I have no idea why Coach Mullen’s won’t replace him. Are the other QB’S that much worse ? Maybe 2nd half will be different.
Gators get the ball to start the 2nd half. A long drive and score would be sweet.
Maybe Franks has snapped out of his funk. Lock losing his best receiver may slow him down. “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”.
Wracking my brain through most of the first half, trying to figure out where I’ve seen these two teams before. Then it hit me: Last year!
I won’t say lack of effort because I don’t know how are they’re really trying. Call it lethargic. Need to get a fire going, only 30 minutes left to remember how to play defense and to score some TDs. Otherwise, giant step backwards — now Go Gators!
i am sick and tired of the qb play at this institution. we have not had a decent qb since st. tebow. what the hell. we are supposedly the top university in the state in a hotbed of high school football. am i missing something. someone please enlighten me. there is something seriously wrong and i for one am getting tired of this.
im sure franks is a nice guy but he is not cutting it. like the last 6 qbs we have had. it all depends on the qb. like in the nfl. when lesser institutions have a better qb there is something seriously wrong .
What happened to the sacks and turnovers from the first half of the season?
That collective “BLECH!” that you’re hearing…..that’s the Dan Mullen Kool Aid turning sour and being spit out. Last weekend’s example of offense not being able to stay in the game by moving the ball and scoring points is REALLY coming out to haunt Florida. The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Time for an offensive change. If Franks truly is the best we have…..WOW.
Grump…I think Grantham’s aggressive attacking defense depends on the dbs being able to play excellent man coverage. Losing his best cover guy and other injuries in the backfield messes that up. Kind of hard to revamp the D after the season starts. I’d like to see what he can do with a full compliment of dbs and with his own recruits, because an attacking defense with talented players is fun to watch and can give offenses fits. The Gators have to execute the scheme, but we’ve seen a lot of broken covetage and rushers out of position…and that is on the players as well as the asdistant coaches. First year in the system and injuries showing up. Not surprising when you think about it, even though for awhile they looked impressive. I fully agree with you that Franks should have been jerked a lot earlier when the game was still winnable. It was obvious Franks wasn’t able to get the job done.
The team is playing so bad, our punter is going to get ejected.
Funny but absolutely true!
I am amazed at how poorly the defense is playing. This is really starting to look eerily like last year’s collapse. I have always liked Dan Mullen, but right now I am seeing a team that looks totally disorganized, defeated, and undisciplined. We are a LONG way from real relevance, I fear.
Anybody who read what I said in an earlier post that UFs defense is bettet than UGAs. After this game, I eat those words.
When the score gets to 35-10, and you have no qb that can effectively pass, what do you do? Do you just take your whuppin, or do you try to make a change and spark your football team?
Mullen must have heard you Grump.
If mizzou gets to 35 points, the coaches might as well put Toney at qb or anybody at qb as our team is showing it’s going to tank with Franks as the qb. You can’t as a coach let the qb take the whole team down. The problem I see right now is that the coaches feel compelled to start and play Franks which means they can’t/haven’t developed the other qbs enough to give them snaps. That’s a problem because if you can’t develop players then you better be able to recruit. We might be in trouble.
Trask is making Mullen look bad.
He’s like Dan Marino but different
On that drive Florida looked like it has an SEC qb in Trask. Good reads and delivered strikes.
Another total butt whipping on both the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. Trask looked good on one drive but had no time to throw on the next. Secondary play was poor, linebackers more or less invisible. The one positive has been the play of Kyle Trask. The posters who have lobbied for him look pretty smart now.
Totally OUTcoached today. This reminds me of Mullen’s first year here with Leak. He tried his hardest to make Leak an option qb. I think Mullen really needs an option qb because he doesn’t have any clue what to do with a drop back qb. Unfortunately, I don’t think Jones is the answer as I think he’s a Jalen Hurts clone without the size.
Effort was the worse I’ve seen in a Gator team in a long time. Good Day………………
Derek Dooley, as offensive coordinator, beat Todd Grantham, defensive coordinator….and that’s all you need to know, to know a change has to be made. Also, imagine the qb change at 21-10 instead of 35-10. What must be done eventually must be done immediately. Sound familiar?
Gators don’t seem to be able to win without forcing turnovers. Defense went on vacation. Trask seemed to have better field vision than Franks and I hope Mullens will let him see how he can do against SC. Play him and Jones. Doubt that will happen but can’t do much worse than what we’ve been seeing the last two games. Maybe walking the stadium steps will reawaken their pride and fighting spirit.
^^^^^^HERE, HERE^^^^^^
Mullen. Typo
OK, this was simple. The whole team doesn’t have any confidence left in Franks. Thus, the Gator Defensive we saw against LSU has lost heart and their manliness. Result: Both O and D lines had they’r butts handed to them.
I hope you “fairness to Franks” guys are happy. If he was any good YOU WOULD HAVE SAW IT LAST YEAR! Do you all now understand??? He’s had plenty of chances. When he sees an open reciever, “he can’t hit the broad side of a barn”.
Trask showed game time coolness and simply hit open guys. The running backs started running harder, etc, etc, etc.
Its Trask’s turn.
It was a disappointing effort. One of the questions was how well the team would bounce back after the UGA loss, and the answer was not well. I didn’t even recognize the team we put out there today. It’s a shame, but I absolutely believe in these coaches, and I haven’t changed my mind that they will get us where we need to be given time.
The number one issue is instilling a lunch pail attitude among the players where they show up for work each day in practice and each Saturday for the game. 90% of life is showing up some funny but kind of creepy guy once said.
I feel for these players. They have so much talent, but they just haven’t learned yet how to put that talent to work on a consistent basis. It a big part of growing up, and if it ever happens, they will shine so bright you will see them from space.
Franks is not very good. Check. Got it. However, this was a team loss. Franks doesn’t play defense, and our defense was absolutely dominated.
Like last year, after losing to UGly, we get blown out by Mizzou.
This SUCKS!
Yea, with Franks not moving offensive, the Defense gets to play the whole game!
And then the defense gives up, but it also looked like the D didnt come to play from the start. I guess nothing to play for since the SEC east and NC are out!
Do y’all keep your middle finger on the scroll wheel of the mouse or on the right click side?
I usually have mine pointed at somebody.
Great idea!
Scroll Wheel
Has this team quit again? Very reminiscent of last year.
Feleipe is not able to play division 1aa football coach Muellen. 4 yard plays only, cant complete a downfield pass. Mcelwain did that!!!!!!You shoved Franks down our throats this year and yet we are here. No one sees improvement. You and coach Grantham make close to 8 million dollars a year right. How come the outcome against Mizzou was so crappy that we played as well last year with no coaches? You need to not be paid for coaching if you can’t motivate these crybabies and loosers any better than this. Homecoming really how dare you!!!!!!!!
There is alot of truth in what you said. They are paid to motivate and prepare the team and clearly this team has given up.
I think from this point on it’s going to get really ugly in the G nation. Godspeed to all. Peace out
Franks does not appear to be the answer. At the same time, the defense of Grantham appeared to be outclassed, outmanaged and outplayed. Whatever happened to the team that beat LSU? That must have been a different Gator team that the one that winless SEC team Mizzou trounced. The search for a Gator QB is in its 10 year. Is Trask the answer? is Jones? Can this team salvage a 9-3 season? From what I saw today in the Carolina game and the Gator game, South Carolina is clearly better than Florida. They have a pourous defense, but so did Mizzou and Florida only got 17. I am stumped. I guess Mullen is playing with McElwain’s players and it’s gone from pretty to ugly REAL fast.
Now is not the time. This was our worst game of the year, and nothing will make it any better. But the sun will come up tomorrow, it may have a more brittle cast to it, we may have lost some enthusiasm for a while, but the world didn’t just end. We can play better; we have proven it. From here on in, what do we want it to be? 9-3? 8-4? 7-5? This is year one. Don’t give up, get behind the team and ride it out.
These guys have quit; I know Mullen likes to coach up QBs but Feleipe has become schizo from Nussmeier abuse. He’s too fragile to win. Give Trask a chance. He’s not flashy, but maybe he can hit a few wide open guys before a game gets out of hand and the defense gets exposed. The main reason we’re losing, though, are the fat lazy guys on both lines of scrimmage. They play when they want to, and disappear the rest of the time. Vosean Joseph plays like a playground bully- he’ll hit a guy when he’s vulnerable, but can’t be bothered with boring stuff like playing your resposibility and gaps with discipline.