{"id":415895,"date":"2026-10-01T17:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415895\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:30:08","slug":"no-8-florida-visits-no-25-missouri-with-last-loss-in-columbia-serving-as-the-gators-motivation-wtop-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415895\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 8 Florida visits No. 25 Missouri with last loss in Columbia serving as the Gators\u2019 motivation \u2013 WTOP News"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is little to suggest that Florida and Missouri<\/a> have any kind of rivalry besides the fact that both reside in the SEC.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re separated by thousands of miles, one in the middle of the Heartland, the other closer to the beach than the farms and fields of the Midwest. Rarely have their paths intersected, and even after being thrown together by the irrationality of conference realignment, the Gators and Tigers have only played 13 times in their football history.<\/p>\n

This is decidedly not Florida-Georgia or Missouri-Kansas.<\/p>\n

Yet a series of frustrating losses, coupled with one demeaning photograph, can quickly build some animosity. <\/p>\n

So it is with the No. 8 Gators and No. 25 Tigers<\/a>, who meet Saturday at Faurot Field. Florida has lost three of its last four there, and the most recent defeat was frozen in time by an image someone captured of former Gators defensive end Tyreak Sapp, sitting on the sideline with legs splayed in front of him, as a trio of Missouri players \u2014 including current Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III \u2014 stood in front of him, one of them mocking him with a baby Gator chomp.<\/p>\n

And even though he\u2019s new in town, Gators coach Jon Sumrall made sure his team knew all about that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the last time Florida played there and lost, there were still guys who are on this team,\u201d Gators safety DJ Coleman said. \u201cHe brought that up today to us, and I feel like it\u2019s going to be motivation, because we\u2019re trying to make history this season, and I feel like this is a small piece of history that we can control right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gators (4-0, 2-0) are certainly on their way to making some history.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve already matched their win total from Billy Napier\u2019s final season, and they did it by squashing then-No. 4 Ole Miss<\/a> \u2014 fresh off an emotional win over LSU \u2014 by a 52-28 score last week in the Swamp. Their first four opponents are a combined 12-4 with their only losses coming to the Gators, while their 28 touchdowns are one fewer than they scored all of last season.<\/p>\n

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz called their success a reflection of their coach, whom he got to know while he was at Arkansas State and Sumrall was at Tulane. The two kept crossing paths while recruiting around Mobile, Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just see with the energy that he brings, the passion \u2014 his energy is infectious. The way his team plays reflects the passion,\u201d Drinkwitz said. \u201cIf you know Jon at all, just reflects the way he carries himself, the confidence and physicality that he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Tigers (3-1, 1-1), they\u2019re trying to bounce back after blowing a fourth-quarter lead in a 31-24 loss at Mississippi State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019ve got things we need to clean up,\u201d Missouri safety Elijah Dotson said, \u201cbut that\u2019s what practice is for. We\u2019re going to clean that up this week and get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

A history of close contests<\/p>\n

The last three Florida-Missouri games have been decided by a touchdown or less, and the Tigers have won the past two in Columbia by a combined three points. That includes the most recent meeting, a 33-31 victory on Nov. 18, 2023.<\/p>\n

Injury updates<\/p>\n

Missouri hopes to have starting edge rushers Langden Kitchen and Darris Smith available as both have been dealing with lower-body injuries. The Gators likewise hope to have their leading receiver, Vernell Brown III, who strained a knee against Ole Miss. He has 17 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns to go with two punt return TDs.<\/p>\n

Defusing the explosive plays<\/p>\n

Missouri has been prone to giving up big plays this season, allowing five of at least 20 yards and two of more than 40 in last week\u2019s loss to the Bulldogs. Now come the Gators, who are fifth nationally in total offense at 532.8 yards per game, <\/p>\n

Spotlight in the backfield<\/p>\n

Florida running back Jadan Baugh has shot into contention for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation\u2019s top running back. He\u2019s No. 2 nationally in rushing with 600 yards through his first four games, and he has a nation-leading 11 touchdown runs.<\/p>\n

Spotlight in the backfield, Part II<\/p>\n

The Tigers remain without their All-American running back, Ahmad Hardy<\/a>, who was shot as an innocent bystander following a concert in Mississippi in the offseason. Hardy has yet to return to practice, leaving Jamal Roberts in the feature role.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here<\/a>. Visit the Top 25 here<\/a> and see AP\u2019s full college football coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is little to suggest that Florida and Missouri have any kind of rivalry besides the fact that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-415895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}