Week Nine: Zou vs. UF
This past Saturday the 4-4 Missouri Tigers headed down to Gainesville, Florida and faced the No. 7 team in the nation, Florida Gators (record here). Mizzou (record here), who just came off their first ever SEC win against Kentucky, came into the game with a lot of excitement and energy.
The first quarter can easily be explained as a cold start on offense for both teams. Neither Mizzou or Florida defense allowed another to score. Whenever a game has no score through the first quarter it normally sets the tone of a good defensive packed game.
In the second quarter, the Tigers took first blood when a 27-yard drive led to a Kendial Lawrence touchdown run giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead over the Gators. The upset alert was on as Mizzou protected their lead into halftime.
Unfortunately, the Tigers witnessed why the Gators were ranked No. 7 in the nation when the Gators scored on a 38-yard touchdown run making the score 7-7. The Gators touchdown would be the only points of the quarter. The Tigers defense became weak in the fourth quarter when they allowed to take a 14-7 lead with a touchdown pass with 13:32 left. Mizzou appeared to have enough time to score then try to hold the Gators to a no score possession, but that simply did not happen. James Franklin, quarterback, threw his fourth interception of the game in the fourth quarter, taking away all hope for the eager Mizzou Tigers. Sure, Franklin threw for 236 yards, but four interceptions will end up hurting the quarterback and this game was no exception.
The game unfortunately lead to the Gators winning 14-7 , but there was some good that came from it. Mizzou was the first SEC team this season to score a touchdown against the Gators at home in the first half. I for one find that to be a great achievement for the team. Also, the Tigers defense only allowed 14 points against one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, Jeff Driskel. The game may have ended in a loss, but good accomplishments came from it. Until next week’s game away versus Tennessee, MIZ-ZOU.
