Roberts, Simmons explode in Mizzou’s dominant win over No. 8 Florida

Heading into No. 25 Missouri’s (3-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) homecoming matchup against No. 8 Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC), it had been 13 years since the Tigers earned a Top-10 conference win and three years since they secured a ranked win in the SEC. Last season, the Tigers had four chances against Top-10 teams, but difficulties in the passing game held them back.

In Saturday’s 45-17 victory, Missouri’s passing game opened up the field early, playing a major part in the definitive victory. After reaching a high of 231 yards in its four contests against ranked SEC opponents in 2026, Austin Simmons surpassed that in the first half on Saturday.

Simmons finished the game 23-for-30 with 340 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. In a first half that the Tigers jumped out to a 20-10 lead, Simmons threw two touchdown passes for 31 and 47 yards and finished the first half with 238 yards, going 16-for-21.

While Simmons led the Tigers’ charge in the first half, Jamal Roberts took over in the second half. Roberts had two explosive bursts of 77 and 80 yards to put Missouri up 45-10.

After the 77-yard gain, Roberts waved his hand up and down towards the crowd, who responded with a late game eruption that had been held in for three years of losses against top opponents. Roberts ended with 24 attempts, 211 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Accompanying Roberts’ explosions, Simmons threw four throws of at least 29 yards, which were scattered across both sidelines and down the middle. Simmons primarily relied on top targets Cayden Lee and Donovan Olugbode in the first half as the two combined for 10 receptions and 161 yards.

Lee finished with 110 yards, on eight receptions. The 100-yard game was his second straight, marking the first time a Tiger has done that in conference play since 2023. Olugbode ended the night with six receptions, 94 yards and one touchdown, while Caleb Goodie Sr. accumulated two catches, 67 yards and a touchdown.

The Tigers excelled defensively as well, holding the Gators to a season-low 17 points. Prior to Saturday, Florida averaged an SEC-second 52.5 points per game. The final score of 45-17 doesn’t even tell the whole story, as Florida secured a late game touchdown with less than a minute remaining.

Missouri’s defense gave up an early 12-yard rush and 24-yard pass on the Gators’ first drive, looking reminiscent to its unit against Mississippi State. Missouri allowed four gains of over 40 yards over the last two weeks, but against Florida never gave up more than 24 yards on a play.

A major contributor to the units success was their stifling performance against Jadan Baugh, who accumulated 600 rushing yards and a nation-leading 11 rushing touchdowns coming in to the game. Baugh Baugh ended with 12 rushes, 13 yards and zero touchdowns, all of which were season lows by far.

Missouri’s defense was active in the backfield with 11 tackles for loss and three sacks from three Tigers in the contest. Nicholas Rodriguez lead the Tigers with 11 tackles and added 1.5 tackles for loss. Leading Missouri in tackles for loss was STAR Kensley Louidor-Faustin with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Missouri returns to Faurot Field on Saturday against Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC), looking to avenge a 38-17 home loss in 2025.

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