The 11th ranked Florida Gators (6-3, 4-3) fell to the Missouri Tigers (5-4, 1-4) in Gainesville on Saturday afternoon.
After Florida struck first with a field goal, Missouri took control in the first half. The Tigers took a 21-10 lead into halftime that they built to 35-10 late in the third quarter. The Gators showed some signs of life late in the third quarter as Gators coach Dan Mullen benched starting quarterback Feleipe Franks in favor of Kyle Trask. Trask promptly engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive in which he converted two fourth downs to pull the Gators within 35-17.
It appeared the Gators would have some momentum to start the fourth quarter as they picked up what they believed to be a fumble recovery and ran it in for a touchdown. However, the review showed the ground caused the fumble and Missouri had the ball - they scored a field goal on the ensuing drive that clinched the 38-17 win for the TIgers.
Kyle Trask finished the night 10-for-18 with 126 yards passing and a touchdown coming off the bench to replace Feleipe Franks, who went 9-for-22 with 84 yards passing before being pulled. The Gators run game only managed 113 yards on the ground - in comparison, leading Missouri rusher Damarera Crockett had 114 yards himself and a touchdown on the ground. Drew Louck went 24-for-32 with 250 yards and three passing touchdowns from the quarterback position from Missouri.
The Gators are in action again next Saturday at the Swamp against South Carolina. You can hear that game on 620 WDAE & 95.3 FM throughout Tampa Bay.