Through five games, no opponent could run effectively against Florida.
The Gators kicked off in Baton Rouge, La., on Oct. 12 with the nation’s second-ranked rush defense. Toledo, Miami, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas averaged only 65 yards per game on the ground against Florida.
But stopping Tigers from running has proven problematic for the Gators, who gave up 380 rushing yards on 76 carries in back-to-back losses to LSU and Missouri.
“We need to play better defensively,” coach Will Muschamp said.
“We need to play the run better, take more pride in our performance and how we’re playing on the field. That falls on me. We’re going to work and we’re going to get it done.”
Each Tigers team had a rusher eclipse the 100-yard mark in the ground game against Florida’s defense.
LSU’s Jeremy Hill and Mizzou’s Henry Josey ran for 121 and 136 yards, respectively.
Georgia’s Todd Gurley was the lone opponent to rush for more than 100 yards against Florida last season, doing so during the Bulldogs’ 17-9 victory.
Problems against Missouri stemmed from the absence of defensive tackles Dominique Easley (torn ACL) and Damien Jacobs, who did not play on Saturday due to lingering effects from a head injury he suffered during a pile-up at the goal line against LSU.
The same issues on the line of scrimmage that plagued the Gators in Baton Rouge carried over to Columbia, Mo. Twenty of Mizzou’s 37 rush attempts gained 5 yards or more.
The dagger was a 50-yard carry by Josey late in the third quarter with the Tigers leading 23-17. The play sparked a run of 13 straight points that helped Missouri ice the game.
“Can’t give up big plays,” Buck linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. said.
“We gave up a lot of big plays. That hurt us. Our job is to get them off the field with three-and-outs and things like that. We can’t give up big plays like that.”
Sloppy Saturday: Despite the ugliness of Florida’s 36-17 loss to Missouri, Saturday could have been worse for the Gators. Five ranked teams lost to unranked opponents during a weekend of upsets.
Florida’s next opponent, injury-ravaged Georgia, fell from No. 15 to out of the top 25 after a 31-27 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. The Bulldogs blew a 13-point lead, fumbling on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter and allowing the Commodores to score 17 unanswered points in the game’s final 15 minutes.
UCF was on the right side of another upset, toppling then-eighth-ranked Louisville 38-35 in Louisville, Ky., on Friday night. Knights quarterback Blake Bortles threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Godfrey with 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter for the game-winning score.
Two more upsets occurred in the Southeastern Conference when formerly 11th-ranked South Carolina fell to Tennessee 23-21, and then-No. 6 LSU lost to Ole Miss 27-24.
The Volunteers defeated the Gamecocks with a 19-yard field goal as time expired, ending Tennessee’s 19-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
The game also marked the first Saturday since Oct. 9, 2004, that UF, UGA and USC all lost.
Formerly 20th-ranked Washington capped a wild day by falling to unranked Arizona State 53-24. The Sun Devils dominated the ground game, rushing for 314 yards compared to the Huskies’ minus-5.
Follow Joe Morgan on Twitter @joe_morgan.
Dante Fowler Jr. (6) attempts to block a pass during Florida’s 36-17 loss to Missouri on Saturday at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. Tigers quarterback Maty Mauk threw for a career-high 295 yards during the game to help Missouri accumulate 500 yards of total offense — the most UF has allowed under coach Will Muschamp.
