‘We lost our composure’: How the Missouri Tigers’ own errors doomed them in Florida loss
Long before the Missouri Tigers and No. 10 Florida met at midfield for a halftime brawl, Mizzou was driving itself deeper into a mistake-induced hole in a 41-17 loss Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
The Tigers were hoping to either tack onto their 7-6 lead or at least preserve it with minutes left in the half. Then the Gators stormed to two touchdowns in a matter of a few game minutes — most of which was courtesy of Mizzou’s sloppy play.
The Gators marched down the field on a six-play, 74-yard drive, capped off by an 18-yard touchdown by Kadarius Toney. Credit the explosive playmaker, Mizzou players will say, but Toney broke multiple tackles on his way to the end zone.
While the Tigers were looking for answers, they instead fumbled the ensuing possession away on a botched exchange, gifting the ball to Florida deep in MU territory. One play later, Florida quarterback Kyle Trask threw a 30-yard dime for a touchdown.
The Tigers were abruptly met with lightning-quick Florida touchdowns as they stared at a 20-7 deficit. And the Tigers never recovered on their way to a blowout loss.
One last MU drive sizzled before halftime, Trask was hit by Trajan Jeffcoat and the Tigers found themselves in the middle of a halftime brawl with punches thrown. Three players were ejected while Eliah Drinkwitz and Florida coach Dan Mullen had to talk it over before retreating to the locker rooms.
While Mizzou players said Drinkwitz addressed the fight and the botched end-of-half plays, the Tigers were disheveled coming out of the break. Florida (3-1) scored on a long touchdown drive; Mizzou responded with a three-and-out. The Gators scored 28 unanswered points as they blew out the Tigers to end what was a two-game winning streak for Missouri (2-3).
“We lost our composure,” Drinkwitz said after the game. “Tried to get everybody settled down, and obviously we didn’t do that. … Gotta do a better job getting our team under control and adjusting for halftime.”
Drinkwitz said he wasn’t sure what happened that led to the buildup of the brawl, adding his eyes were on the ball Trask threw downfield. After the play, Drinkwitz noted he saw a Florida coach on the Mizzou hashmarks yelling at some of his players. Then he saw both Tigers and Gators join in what ultimately led to the kerfuffle.
On replay, it appeared Mullen was yelling near the buildup as he had to be held back by Florida personnel.
Drinkwitz said he wasn’t sure why Florida coaches were running to his sideline or what they were yelling about. He said they’ll look at film to find out what exactly happened, adding “film doesn’t lie.”
“It’s an ugly scene, it’s an ugly scene for college football,” Drinkwitz said. “I’m not proud of it. I don’t know who started it, but we gotta figure it out, gotta get it fixed. Like I said, it’s disappointing. I’m not for that at all.”
At the start of the game, it appeared the Tigers could hang with a top-10 team. The defense, albeit allowing a few explosive plays and some botched coverages, held the explosive Gators to a pair of field goals to start. Once cornerback Jarvis Ware collected his first interception of his career, he returned it for a touchdown for a Mizzou lead.
But the Tigers were riddled with their own mistakes, right guard Case Cook said. The offense — what’s been the strength of the team in victories — stalled and was bogged down by miscues. There was a dropped touchdown, two fumbles and other issues that held them back, Cook said.
“It’s hard enough to get wins in this league as it is,” Cook said. “It’s not going to make it any easier with us beating ourselves with stupid penalties and crap like that. When we get out of our own way, we can be successful. I think that’s apparent with this team.”
While the Tigers looked to regroup during halftime, they couldn’t respond with points until Florida had the game in hand.
Mizzou will stoop over the loss during its Nov. 7 off week, linebacker Nick Bolton said. Next on the schedule is No. 5 Georgia, which leaves the Tigers will little breathing room as they look to get back in the win column.
“It wasn’t exactly pleasant at halftime,” Drinkwitz said about his talk with Mullen. “Just trying to figure out what happened and see if we can get it fixed. I thought both sides did a nice job in the second half of not letting it bleed over to the second half.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2020 at 12:18 AM.