Three Takeaways From Missouri's Nail-Biter Win Over Florida
What if you were told at the beginning of the 2023 season that the Missouri Tigers would be 8-2 through 10 weeks?
On top of that, that the Tigers would beat Tennessee by 27 points more than they would go on to beat Florida by? You probably would have laughed and clicked away immediately, but after 10 weeks of Tiger Football that's exactly where Missouri stands.
Looking to play in early January, the Tigers needed to handle business against Florida, and although it wasn't perfect, they pulled it off. Here are three things that can be learned from Missouri's tight contest against Florida and how they will affect them in their search for a spot in a New Year's Six Bowl.
Tackling
There's no fancy title or intro needed for the first takeaway. The Tigers on Saturday night found themselves allowing large amounts of big plays. Even worse for Missouri, many of these chunk plays came after the Tigers were in position to make the tackle and force stops.
The inability to tackle for the Tigers defense hurt them especially in the run game while trying to contain Florida's dynamic rushing attack. Missouri allowed three different rushers to average over 5.5 yards per carry (minimum five attempts.).
One of those three was Florida's backup quarterback Max Brown, who averaged six yards per carry while rushing the ball seven times. Containing and tackling the quarterback was an extreme area of struggle for the Tigers tonight. Even before exiting the game with an injury, Florida quarterback Graham Mertz scampered for 11 yards, breaking tackles from multiple Missouri defenders at the same time to create a manageable fourth down attempt in the fourth quarter that the Gators would convert to keep the game in striking distance.
The Tigers were able to get away with it tonight, but this should be an area that Missouri focuses on before its matchup with Arkansas next week as Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson has the ability and talent to create explosive plays with his legs against even the most disciplined defenses.
So Many Ways to Win
The most impressive thing from Missouri's win over Florida is the ability for the Tigers to win football games in different ways.
It's something that the Tigers have seen all season, and has been especially clear in the last two weeks. In their contest against Tennessee, the Tigers defense showed up to play, allowing just seven total points. It was evident that the Tiger's defense that showed up that night was one of the best in the country.
On the opposite side, in their win against Florida the defense was lackluster. Putting together a great first half by only allowing seven total points, the Tigers looked poised have a similar performance to their one last week by "standing on business."
The second half was a whole different story. The Gators scored 24 points over the last two quarters, converting big time plays in big time moments against a Missouri defense that looked helpless against Florida's backup quarterback.
The thing that remains impressive regardless of the defensive performance is that Missouri was able to walk away from both games with a win. The Tigers offense had to put together a complete game to keep up with the Florida offense, which they did.
This team has had mediocre performances on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball this year, but their ability to win games regardless is what is going to allow this team to continue to win in big moments.
"Ball Don't Lie"
Missouri would not have won this game without their ability to create crucial turnovers after momentum swinging penalty calls.
The Tigers created two takeaways in this game, the first was an interception in the second quarter by Jaylon "JC" Carlies just two plays after a defensive holding call on Missouri on a 3rd-and-14 that allowed the Gators to pick up a big first down late in the second half. Florida was just 10 yards away from midfield after the penalty, but after a dropped pass Carlies made a great play on the sideline to force the turnover.
The second Tigers' takeaway would come up in similar fashion to their first takeaway; two plays after a costly penalty call. Missouri would manage to chase Max Brown from the pocket on 2nd-and-12 before dragging him down for a one yard loss. A late penalty flag was called on Missouri defensive end Johnny Walker for targeting. The play went to review and showed all defenders either attempting to miss Johnson,. or at the very least, no forcible contact to the head or neck area was made.
In a call that was unpopular to the home fans, the targeting call would be reversed... but instead replaced with an unnecessary roughness penalty for a late hit. Giving the Gators a first down, it seemed that the momentum was shifting until just two plays later, the Brown would never fully get the ball to on the handoff, allowing for Kristian Williams to pounce on the ball and set up a 77 yard Theo Wease Jr touchdown on Missouri's subsequent drive.
The Tigers ability to create timely turnovers regardless of previous plays or momentum will be crucial to putting away Arkansas without another nail-biting finish.
