COLUMBIA, Mo. — Few thought the Gators would be undefeated heading into Saturday’s road matchup against Missouri.
Even fewer thought Florida would come out of the contest a top-10 ranked team, bowl-eligible and on top of the Southeastern Conference Eastern division.
While UF completed that trifecta with a 21-3 victory, the Gators aren’t content with proving the doubters wrong — far from it, actually.
"We’re never satisfied," junior running back Kelvin Taylor said, coming off a pair of first-quarter touchdowns that highlighted Florida’s offensive performance. "At the end of the day, our team is what it’s all about.
"Every week we gotta get better and better and we can never be satisfied. That’s what we’re aiming for."
Admittedly, Florida (6-0, 4-0 SEC) didn’t get better on offense, but it didn’t matter.
Despite an efficient yet rattled performance from redshirt freshman quarterback Will Grier, the Gators offense moved down the field like a well-oiled machine on the first drive — a 12-play, 75-yard march capped by Taylor’s first touchdown of the game from a yard out.
The ability to move the ball from the opening series had been sorely missed over the past month as Florida opened each of its last four games with a three-and-out offensive possession.
"Our play action, motions, shifts I think got them off balance and that’s how we have to play," UF coach Jim McElwain said. "We have to play to keep them off balance."
The Gators have been embarrassed by Missouri (4-2, 1-2 SEC) the last two seasons — a 36-17 beatdown in Columbia in 2013 that knocked the Gators out of the rankings for almost two years and a 42-13 homecoming shellacking last season.
On Saturday — Missouri’s homecoming night — the Gators got their revenge.
Florida’s victory left Tigers’ fans disappointed, but enthralled UF’s home crowd more than 1,000 miles away in Gainesville.
"We have the talent to go as far as we want to go," sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor said.
"We feel like if our offense puts up at least 14 points, it’s going to be hard to beat us because we’re going to buckle down."
Florida wanted vengeance, but that wasn’t the focus throughout the week.
McElwain said the seeds of victory were sown on Monday in practice, with the team going through business as usual.
"If we don’t practice well on Monday or if we don’t stay focused on Tuesday or pay attention to the details on Wednesday and so on and so forth, Saturday you’re going to lose," McElwain said.
"We could be as good as we want to be, but we’ve got to be good on Monday in order for it to happen."
The first-year UF coach became just the third Gators coach to win his first six games as the head football coach.
The other two are Galen Hall in 1984 (10 straight) and Charles Bachman (eight straight) in 1928, a staggering accomplishment that highlights just how tough it is to put a mark on a program in the inaugural season.
Now, the Gators are ranked among the best of the best and are expected to play like such no matter what adversity or tests they face.
And no test will be tougher than what awaits Florida on Saturday when UF travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on No. 6 LSU in a 7 p.m. showdown in Death Valley.
After giving up 130 yards on 22 carries to Missouri’s running backs, the Gators will need to buckle down and head into practice focused on stopping Leonard Fournette, LSU’s workhorse in the backfield and presumably the frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy.
"He’s a grown man," Taylor said of Fournette. "I give the guy all his credit man, he’s one of the elite backs in the SEC and it’s gonna be fun playing against each other. I’m looking forward to it."
While Fournette has the hype, Taylor has proven to be a formidable option in the backfield in his own right.
After recording just six touchdowns all of last season, the junior from Belle Glade already has seven in the first six games of the season.
If Florida hopes to continue its undefeated streak and down LSU, it will come on the heels of the defense.
The Gators, outside of their 38-point performance against Ole Miss and 61-point showing in the season opener against New Mexico State, haven’t displayed an offense capable of moving the ball for four consecutive quarters.
As Tabor’s interception demonstrated, Florida’s offense just needs to score enough points to stay in front and let the defense take care of the rest.
For now, Florida can relish in the fact that the team has won six games and it became bowl eligible — a feat last season’s team didn’t accomplish until Nov. 22 against Eastern Kentucky.
"They’re really understanding what it takes every single day," McElwain said of the team’s progression. "Look, this next game is huge. … (LSU’s) got as good a player as anybody in the country that we’re going to play next week.
"I’m sure they’re just ready to steamroll us."
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
UF running back Kelvin Taylor runs in for a touchdown during Florida's 21-3 win against Missouri on Oct. 10, 2015, at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.
