FINAL: Missouri 45, Florida 17

Saturday, October 3

Columbia, Mo.

3:30 p.m.

Florida Gators

4-1 , 2-1

Missouri

4-1 , 1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Florida	3	7	0	7	17
Missouri	3	17	10	15	45

Pregame Notes Postgame Notes

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Graphic: Andrew Hamilton/UAA Communications

FINAL: Missouri 45, Florida 17

Saturday, October 3, 2026 | Football, Chris Harry

Box Score

What Happened

COLUMBIA, Mo. — What was it that Jon Sumrall said earlier in the week? Something about having to humble yourself or else someone will do it for you?

Evidence the 25th-ranked Missouri Tigers and their venerable homefield advantage against the Florida Gators.

Mizzou quarterback Austin Simmons passed for 340 yards and a pair of scores in leading his team to five unanswered touchdowns, while the Tigers' defense flattened the Florida offense — and completely stonewalled star tailback Jadan Baugh — in handing the eighth-ranked Gators an excruciatingly humbling 45-17 Southeastern Conference defeat Saturday before a sellout crowd at Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium.

Simmons, the Ole Miss transfer, shredded the UF secondary, which lost safety Bryce Thornton to an injury during pregame warmups, by completing 23 of 30 passes, with touchdowns of 47 and 31 yards, while running back Jamal Roberts carried 24 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns. Roberts' bellcow counterpart, Baugh, who started the day on everybody's early Heisman Trophy lists, was held to a mind-numbing 13 yards on 12 attempts. Baugh came into the game as the nation's No. 2 rusher with 600 yards and 11 touchdowns.

His numbers tracked with the rest of his team's.

Florida came in ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring at 53.5 points and fifth in total offense at 532.8 yards, but not only was outscored by Missouri but pummeled in the total offense category 561 yards to 325. UF quarterback Aaron Philo completed 21 of 34 passes for 197 yards and score, but was under siege all afternoon and was sacked three times.

The score actually was tied at 10 in the second quarter when the black and gold avalanche commenced.

The win marked the Tigers' first over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 since they defeated No. 7 Georgia 41-26 on October. 12, 2013. Missouri had lost nine straight games against ranked opponents and were 7-19 coming in against ranked foes under Coach Eli Drinkwitz.

Meanwhile, the Gators lost for the fourth time in the last five trips to the place they call "CoMo" and fell to 2-5 all time.

It was apparent this game was going to be different (as in tougher) for Florida's rush-oriented offense when Missouri stuffed the Gators with five tackles-for-loss on the opening drive. Even so, UF got points on the board with a 20-yard field by Patrick Durkin, with Missouri canceling out that score with a 12-play, 62-yard march of its own that Blake Craig finished with a 32-yard field goal.

The Tigers went ahead 10-3 on their first possession of the second quarter with Simmons hitting wideout Donovan Olugbode (6 catches, 94 yards, 1 TD) for a 47-yard strike not quite five minutes into the period. That lead could have grown when Sumrall's gamble on a fourth-and-1 from his own 34 was stymied when Philo got stuffed for no gain. The Tigers, though, missed a 50-yard field goal to keep the scoreboard at 10-3.

After three straight drives of a combined 10 plays and 29 yards, Philo and Florida got into a rhythm with a 68-yard march that ended with a 12-yard touchdown to Dallas Wilson (4 catches, 68 yards, 1 TD) that tied the game 10. The Mizzou answer, through, was quick. Simmons completed passes of 10 and 29 yards to move into UF territory, then dropped a 31-yard scoring strike to Caleb Goodie Sr., who ran right past cornerback J'Vari Flowers for an easy score and the fourth pass completion of at least 20 yards in the first half against the UF defense. It was 17-10.

Florida's final possession of the half ended with a three-and-out, with Simmons taking advantage with three straight completions that set up Craig for a 50-yard field goal as time expired to send the Tigers into the locker room with 20-10 lead, all the momentum and the ball to start the second half.

Their first possession after intermission was more of the same.

Mizzou needed less than three minutes to roll 75 yards in six plays. A 36-yard Simmons-to-Goodie strike on third-and-7 moved the ball to the UF 19. Two plays later, Roberts crashed into the end zone from five yards and the Tigers were dominating at 27-10.

Missouri added a 52-yard field goal at the 4:30 mark of the period to go up 30-10. Florida had to get something, anything, on its next drive to stop the bleeding, but a sack put the Gators behind the down and distance, forcing a punt. On the Tigers' second play of the next possession, Roberts was stacked up for a loss on the right side of the line, but spun out of it and took off on an improbable 77-yard run to the UF 2. Roberts finished the drive with a touchdown, the Tigers added a 2-point conversion and the game was over-and-a-half at 38-10.

Mizzou's first three-and-out possession of the game came with just under nine minutes remaining and leading of 45-10. Gators backup quarterback Trammell Jones Jr. threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to TJ Abrams with 47 seconds remaining to account for the final score.

UF defensive end **Emmanual Oyebadejo** (99) with one of the few times Mizzou QB **Austin Simmons** felt pressure Saturday. (Photo: **Hannah White**/UAA Communications)

What it Means

A reality check for the Gators, who still have plenty to play for and will have a slew of chances to show what a dose of humility will do for them with some brutal SEC challenges still on the horizon. This where Sumrall will learn about the character of his first UF team.

In the Spotlight

Simmons and Roberts were phenomenal in combining for — get this — 551 yards of total offense to become only the third duo over the last 20 years with a 300-yard passer and 200-yard rusher against a top-10 team.

Staggering Statistic

The UF running game averaged 260.0 yards through the first four games (11th in the nation), including 5.9 per carry. The Gators rushed 25 times for 42 yards. That's 1.7 per. Baugh, who was at 7.2 a carry coming in, had a 12-yard run on the first snap of the game, but gained one yard on his final 11 carries to finish at 1.1 per. Apparently, not enough was made of Missouri's run defense, which started the day at 31st nationally and was allowing only 2.8 yards per carry. The Tigers actually improved on that mark against the second-best ground game in the country.

Up Next

Florida (4-1, 2-1) is back at "The Swamp" next weekend to face South Carolina (2-3, 0-3) for homecoming. The Gators have defeated the Gamecocks four straight times in Gainesville and five of the previous six overall. USC lost to Kentucky 35-34 in overtime at home Saturday. Missouri will be home next week against Texas A&M.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu Find his story archives here.