COLUMBIA, Mo. — Florida’s season is becoming more exasperating by the game.
A year after going 11-2 and earning a trip to the Sugar Bowl, the Gators feature an offense incapable of consistently scoring points and a wounded defense suddenly too willing to allow them.
No. 22 Florida’s most recent meltdown — a humiliating 36-17 loss to No. 14 Missouri on Saturday at Faurot Field — leaves the Gators searching for answers that have so far been difficult to find.
“We’re just not a good football team — certainly not today — and it falls on my shoulders,” a furious coach Will Muschamp said after the game. “We’re inept offensively. We have a hard time running it and certainly can’t protect very well.”
Florida, which has already surpassed its loss total from last season, is suffering from several weaknesses on both sides of the ball — none more glaring than the recent abysmal play of its offensive line. Lacking a firm foundation, the offense has sputtered the past two weeks as the Gators have lost back-to-back games for the first time since October 2011.
Florida’s offensive line has allowed 10 sacks and 13 hurries during the past two games, forcing quarterback Tyler Murphy to scramble to make plays countless times. Against Missouri, Murphy finished 15-of-29 passing for a paltry 92 yards — by far his weakest outing of the season.
Kelvin Taylor had his second strong game in a row, rushing 12 times for 74 yards and a touchdown in the loss, but mostly disappeared after breaking a 20-yard touchdown out of the Wildcat formation to pull Florida within six with 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“We struggle to do anything we try to do,” Muschamp said. “We try and spread it out and try and throw it, and we can’t protect the quarterback. When we try to grind it out, we’re not getting creating enough explosive runs. We need to find some answers, and right now we’re not finding any.”
Florida finished with a season-low 151 yards of offense in the game, which began with temperatures in the mid-40s. The output was the program’s fewest since 1999.
“I’m just very disappointed that we haven’t made more positive strides offensively this season,” Muschamp said. “We regressed again from last week. We’ll go back and work extremely hard to get those things corrected.”
Missouri (7-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) scored the final 13 points of the game to seal the victory. The Tigers now sit atop the SEC Eastern Division by two games following the win and losses by No. 11 South Carolina and No. 15 Georgia.
Florida (4-3, 3-2 SEC) will require quite a bit of help to have any chance of making the SEC Championship Game. Forget Atlanta – at this point the Gators should be more concerned with locking up bowl eligibility.
Teams must win at least six games to become bowl eligible, meaning Florida will have to beat two of its remaining opponents — Georgia, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia Southern and Florida State.
Vanderbilt upset Georgia 31-27 on Saturday. Excluding Georgia Southern, each of the other three teams entered the weekend ranked ahead of Florida.
“Anything is possible,” Dante Fowler Jr. said. “I don’t feel like anything is out of reach. Anything can happen. We’re just going to keep going out there and keep playing football and who knows what could happen?”
If UF’s suddenly porous defense does not improve, nothing good will happen.
Florida’s usually dependable unit collapsed against Missouri.
Anyone who arrived late to the game was in jeopardy of missing the start of Missouri’s offensive outpouring. Mauk completed a pass to L’Damian Washington down the right sideline on the first play from scrimmage for a gain of 41 yards.
Cody Riggs was flagged and disqualified for targeting after initiating helmet-to-helmet contact with Washington while attempting to dislodge the ball on the play. Florida’s already depleted defense, which lost starters Ronald Powell and Damien Jacobs to injury during the week, grew thinner almost immediately.
Mauk found Bud Sasser for a 20-yard touchdown on the next play to set the tone just 22 seconds into the game. He finished the game 18-of-36 passing for 295 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“We’re all looking for answers right now,” Jaylen Watkins said.
After Missouri’s opening drive, the Tigers leaned on tailback Henry Josey to shoulder the load. For the second consecutive game, an opposing running back shredded Florida’s rushing defense.
Josey carried the ball 18 times for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Prior to last week at LSU, Florida had allowed just one ball carrier — Georgia’s Todd Gurley — to gain at least 100 yards on the ground since the start of the 2012 season.
Josey is now the second back in as many weeks to eclipse the mark. LSU’s Jeremy Hill gashed the Gators for 121 yards on Oct. 12.
“We’ve never seen the scoreboard lit up like that on us the past two years,” Watkins lamented.
Florida’s defense had two golden opportunities in the second half to redeem an otherwise disastrous day.
Solomon Patton returned the opening kick after halftime for a touchdown to cut the Gators’ deficit to 13-10. Later in the third quarter, Taylor punched in a 20-yard touchto cut Florida’s deficit to 23-17.
But Missouri, which gained 500 yards of total offense while snapping Florida’s 13-game streak of holding SEC opponents to 20 points or fewer, marched down the field for a touchdown following Patton’s return.
The Tigers added a field goal early in the fourth quarter after Taylor’s score.
“I tell our guys all the time, ‘You’re the firemen. You got to go put it out.’ Regardless of the situation in the game, you’ve got to play a certain way,” Muschamp said. “When you don’t do that, you’re not doing your job.
The team Muschamp hoped would be an SEC contender limps into its second bye week of the season searching for solutions before Florida plays Georgia on Nov. 2 in Jacksonville.
“I’m a competitor,” he said. “I’m going to fight my ass off. That’s what you do. You get your back against the wall and you fight your ass off. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Follow Phillip Heilman on Twitter @phillip_heilman.
Tyler Murphy fumbles the ball during Florida’s 36-17 loss against Missouri on Oct. 19 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo.
