Missouri running back Tyler Badie is having a senior season for the ages.

The 5-8, 194-pound has been a workhorse for the Tigers this season. His 200 carries are the 11th most in the country. His 1,239 yards are fourth-most, and his 123.9 yards per game lead the conference. For a Missouri team that doesn't rank top-five in any offensive category in the SEC, Badie has been the shining star and must be the focal point for the Gators' defense this week.

Badie is coming into the game red hot. The running back has eclipsed 200 rushing yards in three of the last five games and in four of the Tigers' 10 games this season. He rushed for 209 yards and a score last week against South Carolina, a team that held Florida to just 82 rushing yards the week before. Badie is among just three SEC players (Leonard Fournette, Derrick Henry) since 2000 to record four 200-yard games in a season and is the first since Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard and Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor each accomplished the feat in 2019.

Just how valuable has Badie been to a Missouri team sitting at 5-5 and, just like Florida, looking to gain bowl eligibility this week?

"I don’t know that we have five wins if it’s not for Tyler Badie," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said this week. "And you think about the Central Michigan game, the fourth quarter when he's able to break the long run and set us up to win the game. And again, you get to the Vanderbilt game, where they've cut it down to three, hand him the ball and he goes 78 yards. And then, again, missed plays in the fourth quarter that allowed the game to get a lot closer than it needed to be, and then Tyler's able to run us down the field, and we’re able to take a knee. So I think all those plays are really definitive of how much of an impact he’s had for us.”

Badie, a New Orleans native, is making the most of his first opportunity being Missouri's feature back. Prior to this season, he had played second fiddle to Larry Roundtree, who is a rookie for the Los Angeles Chargers. With more opportunity in 2021, Badie is showing that he may be well on his way to playing in the NFL next season.

Dan Mullen noted that the Missouri offensive attack truly starts and ends with Badie, making him a focal point for the Gators' defense this week.

"You gotta be sound, you gotta fit your gaps. You gotta come and you gotta tackle. They give him the ball a lot. You look at their team and I don’t know that anybody else even gets the ball very much in the running game, in number of carries," Mullen said on the SEC teleconference. "They’re going to feed him the ball a bunch and he’s been an extremely productive player. He can run with power and I think he has elite speed as well. You’ve gotta do a great job. You can’t let him get to that second level because he has the ability to hit a home run.”

Florida needs to limit or eliminate those Badie home runs if they want to walk out of Columbia with a win.