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At first, it seemed like Florida was content material to let the remaining seconds tick off the clock. The Gators had gotten the ball again with 35 seconds left within the first half throughout Saturday evening’s sport in opposition to Missouri. They tried a pair deep passes, however each fell incomplete, so, on third down, coach Dan Mullen known as for an inside handoff. When that failed to maneuver the chains, he despatched the punting unit onto the sector, apparently content material to take his group’s 20-7 lead into the locker room.

Earlier than both group may get there, punches have been thrown, gamers have been ejected and the 2 head coaches squared off in a yelling match on the sector.

A brawl erupted between Missouri and Florida at halftime, capping a disastrous and decisive couple of minutes for the Tigers. No. 10 Florida scored two touchdowns within the remaining two minutes of the primary half to rework Missouri’s 7-6 lead right into a 20-7 deficit, which the Tigers’ struggling offense couldn’t overcome. Missouri misplaced 41-17, snapping its two-game profitable streak.

Florida coach Dan Mullen needs to be restrained throughout the brawl at halftime of Missouri’s loss at Florida. (Brad McClenny/USA In the present day)

Greater than something that occurred with time on the sport clock, the mid-game melee grew to become the story Saturday. It took a pair Missouri miscues simply to get there. After Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz known as a timeout with 14 seconds remaining, Florida did find yourself punting, however reserve linebacker Jamie Pettway jumped offsides, giving the Gators 5 yards and a free first down. Even nonetheless, from its personal 43-yard line, Florida wasn’t aggressive, handing the ball to Nay’Quan Wright on a draw play. That used up the half’s remaining seconds. However as soon as once more, Missouri bought flagged for being offsides, defensive finish Tre Williams this time the responsible get together. The defensive penalty gave Florida one untimed down, and this time, Mullen let quarterback Kyle Trask throw for the top zone. Security Tyree Gillespie batted the ball to the turf, which seemed like it will lastly convey the half to an finish.

On the play, nevertheless, Missouri defensive finish Trajan Jeffcoat delivered a tough hit to Trask’s higher physique after Trask had launched the ball. Jeffcoat didn’t draw a penalty flag, however he did earn the ire of the Florida gamers, who began yelling and shoving. A number of Gator gamers from the sideline joined the fray, and Mullen appeared to run onto the sector yelling, as properly. Quickly, Missouri’s sideline emptied, too. The sphere grew to become a mosh pit, with coaches and officers making an attempt in useless to interrupt up the brouhaha. Missouri defensive sort out Akial Byers bought his helmet ripped off. Linebacker Chad Bailey tangled with Florida’s Zachary Carter. Markell Utsey threw a collection of untamed punches with each arms.

After the gamers have been lastly shepherded into their respective locker rooms, Drinkwitz sought out Mullen. Surrounded by safety personnel, the 2 red-faced coaches had an animated dialog that Drinkwitz admitted after the sport “wasn’t precisely nice.” Lastly, after they went their separate methods, Mullen jogged into the tunnel resulting in the locker room, solely to reemerge, elevating his arms in an try and elicit cheers from the 12,049 followers in attendance.

Drinkwitz known as the scene “ugly for faculty soccer” and “disappointing.”

“Actually, I don’t actually know (what occurred),” Drinkwitz stated. “My eyes have been on the ball. We performed the ball, the ball was knocked away, I began operating in and noticed one in all their coaches on our hash yelling at our guys, after which I noticed extra of their gamers take part after which our gamers joined in, and we gotta preserve our guys from becoming a member of in, we gotta preserve our guys from the sidelines. It’s an unsightly scene.”

Throughout his postgame interview with SEC Community sideline reporter Taylor Davis, Mullen didn’t sound fairly as upset concerning the battle, however he did say he “does not condone it. ” He additionally confirmed that Jeffcoat’s hit on Trask instigated the difficulty.

“From my understanding, our guys thought they took a late hit on our quarterback,” Mullen stated. “They’re going to guard him, you understand what I imply? That’s their man. And I believe they have been going to guard him. I believe each side have been making an attempt to get individuals off the sector, however all people was just a little bit edgy and possibly went just a little too far with it. I do know we have been making an attempt to get our guys off the sector in the midst of all of it.”

Finally, officers ejected Williams for Missouri together with Carter and Antwuan Powell for Florida. Each different participant on every group obtained an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The SEC may impose additional penalties this week. The league workplace will certainly overview the incident.

“I don’t know why they have been operating over to our hash,” Drinkwitz stated of the Florida coaches. “I do not know what even form of they have been yelling about, so we’ll check out the movie, however I’m certain we’ll discover out extra tomorrow after we watch the tape. Movie doesn’t lie.”

The sport began to get uncontrolled for Missouri within the minutes main as much as the brawl. Florida didn’t discover the top zone on any of its first 5 drives, and a Jarvis Ware interception return for a landing gave Missouri a one-point lead for many of the second quarter. Florida lastly broke via when shifty receiver Kadarius Toney took a display screen move 18 yards for a landing with 1:41 left within the half.

Missouri tried to make the most of the remaining time on the clock. However on third down and one, two Florida defensive linemen knifed into the backfield, disrupting a learn possibility between quarterback Connor Bazelak and tailback Tyler Badie. Badie tried to take the handoff from Bazelak, Bazelak tried to maintain the ball for himself, and it wound up falling on the turf, the place Brenton Cox fell on it. The very subsequent play, Trask discovered a wide-open Toney for a 30-yard landing.

“Appeared like our left sort out bought beat throughout face with the defensive stunt, and the operating again was making an attempt to leap lower on the identical time the quarterback was making an attempt to drag it with the defensive finish coming down, crashing, and when that occurs, you’ve bought one man pulling a method, one man going the opposite, it’s simply sometimes a fumble,” Drinkwitz defined. “So we’ve gotta do a greater job not permitting penetration, and might’t flip it over. After which we busted a protection.”

After a longer-than-usual halftime as a result of battle, Florida’s offense picked up the place it left off, scoring a landing on its first possession and three of its first 4 drives after the break. Missouri’s, in the meantime, remained stagnant. Florida wound up out-gaining the Tigers 514 complete yards to 248.

Each coaches famous after the sport that the 2 groups did a very good job of not letting the battle “bleed over” into the second half. However Drinkwitz stated it impacted Missouri’s possibilities of wiping away its 14-point deficit.

“We simply misplaced our composure,” he stated. “Misplaced our composure and tried to get all people settled down, and clearly we didn’t try this, as a result of then they went on the market and drove the size of the sector and scored, after which we went three and out offensively, so gotta do a greater job getting our group below management and adjusting for halftime.”

Offensive line struggles sans two starters

Missouri’s offensive line earned fairly a little bit of reward following the group’s win over Kentucky final weekend, and deservedly so. The Tigers rushed the ball 62 instances in opposition to the Wildcats, which allowed them to carry the ball for greater than 43 minutes. Junior guard Case Cook dinner was named the offensive lineman of the week by the SEC in consequence.

The unit crashed again to earth in opposition to Florida. With true freshman Dylan Spencer changing the injured Xavier Delgado at left guard and sophomore Javon Foster beginning for Larry Borom at proper sort out, Missouri mustered simply 40 yards on 23 carries — a paltry 1.7 yards per rush. Florida recorded six tackles for loss and sacked Bazelak thrice, hurrying him on a number of extra events.

“We left quite a lot of stuff on the market,” Cook dinner stated after the sport. “There was quite a lot of yards, quite a lot of performs that we left on the market. We may have executed higher. That’s actually the underside line, we simply gotta do a greater job executing up entrance as a unit. That’s all 5 guys.”

True freshman Dylan Spencer (70) and the Missouri offensive line struggled in opposition to Florida. (Mizzou Athletics)

Saturday uncovered Missouri’s lack of depth up entrance, which doesn’t precisely come as a shock for a unit that has been ravaged by accidents and opt-outs. Not solely did Spencer and Foster every make their first profession begin, Bobby Lawrence changed Zeke Powell at left sort out halfway via the sport. It wasn’t clear if Powell was eliminated as a result of damage or ineffectiveness. Even Cook dinner missed at the very least just a few snaps, which resulted within the first significant taking part in time for redshirt freshman Luke Griffin. Nonetheless, Cook dinner didn’t need to use accidents as an excuse for the efficiency.

“Whenever you’re mixing and transferring round items, it’s all the time troublesome,” Cook dinner stated. “Takes a bit to get comfy with the man you’re taking part in subsequent to. However I believed the fellows got here in and stepped up and did a very good job, and on the finish of the day, we simply gotta execute higher as a unit. That’s what it got here right down to, and we beat ourselves rather a lot tonight.”

Drinkwitz didn’t single out the offensive line, however he included them amongst these liable for the Tigers’ incapability to maneuver the ball. He additionally assigned blame to himself.

“I gotta do higher,” he stated. “It’s my job to name performs we are able to execute, my job to place us in a scenario to achieve success offensively, however I didn’t try this tonight. So backside line, that’s on me, and we now have to work onerous to get it fastened, and it’s what it’s.”

Toney tears up Tiger protection

All through the week, Drinkwitz recognized two gamers on Florida’s offense who would current troublesome matchups for Missouri. The headliner was tight finish Kyle Pitts. The junior entered Saturday with seven touchdowns in simply three video games, serving to gas hypothesis that he may very well be chosen within the first spherical of the upcoming NFL Draft.

After a robust begin, Missouri truly did a fairly good job of limiting Pitts. Pitts completed the sport with 5 catches for 81 yards, each beneath his season averages. He didn’t discover the top zone for the primary time all season. However for the Gators’ different weapon, Missouri had no reply.

Toney torched Missouri, scoring three touchdowns on seven touches. The do-everything speedster scored on a deep sample, a display screen move and a handoff. In all, he caught 4 passes for 60 yards and two touchdowns and rushed thrice for 23 yards and one other rating.

“We didn’t set ok edges in opposition to Kadarius, and he continued to interrupt tackles,” Drinkwitz stated. “I don’t have particular person stats, however I do know the primary half once they have been transferring the ball down the sector they appeared to maintain discovering him.”

As Drinkwitz alluded to, Missouri’s chief defensive subject in opposition to Toney and the remainder of the Gators was its tackling. Toney made at the very least 4 males miss on his first landing of the evening, alone.

“We gotta sort out, gotta wrap up higher, gotta gang sort out,” linebacker Nick Bolton stated. “… We gotta run via tackles. They bought good athletes in area, and so we simply gotta do our greatest to convey the ball service down when we now have the chance to.”

‘Turnover gown’ makes its debut

One profitable second for Missouri’s protection got here when a blitzing Bolton smashed Trask as he tried to throw deep within the second quarter. The hit triggered Trask’s move to drift excessive into the air and land within the arms of Ware. The junior quarterback returned it 59 yards for a landing.

The defensive rating resulted in a novel sight, and never solely as a result of it marked Missouri’s first interception of the 2020 season. Afterward, on the sideline, Ware donned a black, hooded boxing gown trimmed in gold. The again learn “Turnover Champ.” Sideline prizes for defensive gamers who drive turnovers have develop into widespread in faculty soccer, however Bolton confirmed this was a brand new incentive for the Missouri protection.

“Coach Walters introduced that out yesterday for us,” Bolton stated. “We have been excited for it. Jarvis was the primary one to put on it, so hopefully there’s quite a lot of extra guys sporting it sooner or later.”