Another long day at the office for the Florida Gators football team as they were blown out in Columbia, Missouri by the Tigers 45-16. If the loss wasn’t bad enough in Randy Shannon’s coaching debut for Florida fans, it was the first time the Gators have allowed 42 or more points in back to back weeks since 1917.
The Gators changing quarterbacks didn’t have any effect as Malik Zaire got the start over redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks in a game where new head coach Randy Shannon was trying to get something going for the Gators offense this season. Zaire struggled for the entire game with little success ending in a 13-19 effort for 158 yards and an interception. Franks took over in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand and led the Gators on their lone touchdown drive in garbage time.
Franks ended his day 7-10 for 98 yards and 1 touchdown.
The Tigers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Derek Lock has his offense locked in and productive against a non-interested Gators defense. Missouri outscored the Gators 28-6 in the first half as Lock passed for a pair of scores, and running back Larry Roundtree III ran for a pair of scores. The only scoring for the Gators came from the foot of kicker Eddy Pineiro with a pair of field goals in the first half. Missouri ran up 298 yards of offense on the Gators in the first half, and didn’t slow down in the second half.
The combo of Roundtree and Lock accounted for a touchdown each in the second half as the blowout began to mount in Columbia, MO. Pineiro added a third field goal in the second half, and Franks found Lamichal Perine for a 16-yard touchdown catch and run for the lone touchdown of the game for Florida.
Drew Lock finished 15-20 for 228 yards and three touchdowns, while Roundtree and Ish Witter had 83 yards rushing each on the Gators defense. The Gators were outgained 455-349.
Florida will stay on the road next week as they visit South Carolina. You can hear the call on WDAE beginning with a 9am pre-game, and a 12pm kickoff.
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