Mizzou knocked off No. 11 Florida, 38-17, Saturday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in impressive fashion. The victory was Mizzou’s first road win at a top-15 opponent since 2014 and the first win against a ranked opponent for head coach Barry Odom. Mizzou now leads the all-time series with Florida, 5-3. Senior QB Drew Lock moved into third place in SEC history after throwing for three TDs Saturday, moving his career total to 90, passing Florida’s Tim Tebow and Chris Leak (88) and Tennessee’s Peyton Manning (89). He also passed for 250 yards, moving his career total to 11,089, which moved him past Florida’s Danny Wuerffel (10,817 from 1993-96) for sixth in SEC history.
Lock completed 24 of 32 passes for 250 yards, with scoring throws to Albert Okwuegbunam, Kam Scott and Emanuel Hall. Albert O left the game with a shoulder injury while blocking a Florida defender. After the game Albert said he was fine, but was wearing a sling. Hall appeared in his first game since the SEC opener against Georgia. Hall missed three games with a groin injury.
With his full arsenal of receivers around him at the start of the game, Lock felt things would turn in the Tigers favor.
“This feels really good,” Lock said. “It’s hard to put into words. It was a different week for us. You kind of had that feeling there’s no way you lose that football game (to Kentucky). I think after a loss like that, there’s no way you can go in and lose a game.
Mizzou’s line play was the difference in this game. The defense harassed Florida QB Felipe Franks who completed just 7 of 22 passes for 84 yards before being benched. The offensive line created huge holes in the run game. The Tigers rushed for 221 yards. Damarea Crockett gained 114 on 21 carries for a 5.4 average and Larry Rountree added 72 on 14 for a 5.1 yards per carry average.
Up next, Mizzou will host Vanderbilt with a chance to become bowl eligible.