One last SEC matchup and one last road game for the Gators this regular season. They’ll take on their fourth Tiger team of the year, this time against an unranked Missouri.
The Tigers are a powerful team at home. This season, they have won all of their home games and lost every game on the road.
“On the road, they struggle, but then they get home, something clicks with them, and they blow teams out,” said defensive back Marco Wilson. “We’ve got to be ready for that. We know they’re going to be hyped up. Home game, weather’s probably going to be weird. So, we got to put all the distraction aside and just focus on balling.”
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The Gators have fallen to Missouri the past two years. In 2017, the Tigers were 4-5 when they beat Florida 45-16. Last year the Gators lost 38-17 when the Tigers were 5-4. That loss came after a disappointing game in Jacksonville to Georgia.
“Bitter taste,” said defensive lineman Adam Shuler. “You know, we lost. Not a revenge game, but we lost. That's how it always is in my head, in our head.”
"I felt like it was the drift of just losing to Georgia, feeling like we didn't have anything to play for and we let one loss turn into another,” added linebacker David Reese.
This year, Missouri is sitting at a 5-4 record again.
They’ve lost their last three games against SEC opponents, but all of those were on the road. They’ll welcome the Gators to their home turf where the high will only be fifty degrees. That plus an 11 AM kickoff will be quite a change for the boys from old Florida.
“We're excited for the game and we're pumped up,” said Reese. “We don't care about the weather or anything like that. We just want to win. Coach Mullen has done a great job just letting us know that if you're a competitor then that's what you want to do. You expect to win every game.”
The Tigers are obviously hoping for an undefeated season at home. If they can get past Florida, that just leaves Tennessee on the slate for them. They’ll come out hard, determined to get the win.
And they’ve got some powerful guys that will do everything they can to make that happen. One of the most notable players is Albert Okwuegbunam. He’s a dynamic tight end who is comparable to Florida’s Kyle Pitts.
“He’s really athletic and he has good size to him, kind of like a Pitts,” said defensive back Donovan Stiner. “He’s really athletic and he’s good at running his routes, from what we’ve seen.”
“He's a good player, good-sized player, like the tight end we just faced at Vanderbilt, another NFL prospect-type tight end,” added Reese. “We just faced him, excited to see what that brings."
He’s gone for 280 yards and six touchdowns on the season, with his average carry sitting at 12.7 yards. A tight end like that can prove difficult to cover for a defense. He’s big, 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, and he can move, too. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will have to adapt matchups based on down and distance to keep Okwuegbunam from making breakout plays.
“Anytime you have an athletic tight end like that the linebacker matchups are always something you look to address,” said Grantham. “We played a pretty good tight end last week and we’ve played some good tight ends before, so really gets down to understanding where your help is, understanding leverages and just understanding the situations that come up as far as formations can kind of tell you about what they’re doing.”
The Tigers also have a quarterback that has a few tricks up his sleeve. Kelly Bryant spent the majority of his college career at Clemson and transferred to Missouri for his senior season.
And boy, what a season it’s been for him.
He’s a guy that can do just about anything. He’s pretty accurate passing, throwing for 1,845 yards and 14 touchdowns on 225 attempts this season. And he can run too, going for 205 yards and a touchdown on 81 attempts. That dual-threat could pose a challenge for Florida’s defense, which has struggled to stop the run this year.
“The biggest thing with him is that you are looking at a physical guy that has a physical stature to him at that position, that can extend plays, and you can get some positive yards out of him,” said Grantham. “He brings athletic ability to the quarterback position. I’m sure he has some leadership qualities about him that allows that guys around him to play, so we are aware of that.”
Expect Missouri to try to take advantage of the run in this game. They’re decent on the ground, with their best guy being Larry Rountree III. He’s at 668 yards and eight touchdowns on the season, with his average run being 4.8 yards. The Tigers will use him to chip away at Florida’s defense and get crucial first downs.
On the ground they’re averaging about 169 yards per game. When you consider only home games, that number is even higher at about 216 yards. On top of that, they’re averaging over forty points at home.
“We got to make sure they don’t average that on us,” said Wilson.
The Gators wanted to make one thing clear: they’re not out for revenge against Missouri. Their only goal is finishing out the season as strong as they can, with high hopes for a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“We’re not focused on payback, we’re just focused on the next team on the schedule,” said Wilson. “We need to dominate them.”
“We’re just focused on the game,” said Stiner. “We’re all competitive. We already know what’s coming so we can be prepared for it. Just go out there and be competitive, not worried about being cold.”
