Crunching the Numbers: Florida Gators vs. Missouri Tigers

After an unexpected week off, the Florida Gators tried to exact revenge against a team that ruined homecoming two years ago. While the weather did not cooperate, creating a muted atmosphere in the Swamp, the Gators had a good team win with a 40-14 win, notching their second 40-plus point SEC game – the first time that has happened since 2010.

It wasn’t always pretty. Heck, sometimes it was ugly. But, the Gators now sit in sole control of their own destiny in the SEC East race and look to be clicking in their rushing attack, on defense, and on special teams.

With a bye-week forthcoming and then a stretch of Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and LSU looming, the Gators will look to grow and improve from their game Saturday, entering the bye-week with confidence that they have the tools to run the table after a solid all-around team performance.

Let’s take a look at the Gators win over the Tigers.

Thoughts on Luke Del Rio

Luke Del Rio is still injured and you could tell.

I was at the game this week, so you see some things that you don’t see when you watch it on television. After nearly every throw, particularly in the first and second quarter, Del Rio was grabbing at his knee, constantly adjusting the brace, and looking tentative in stepping into throws.

Now, he looked fine at time and bad at others, especially on the deep ball, which I think is mostly related to in his inability to put a lot of pressure on his knee (or tentativeness to do so). He was underthrowing balls that he has made before and I think had a desire, mentally, to hit one, which caused him to try to continue to hit the deep ball, which could have resulted in two or three more interceptions on top of the three he already had.

Del Rio was rusty, but I am ready to chalk a lot of that up to injury. Del Rio has another 13 days to recover before he has to take the football field.
The Gators need Del Rio, because while he struggled at times on Saturday, he is the Gators best option to win.

Offense

• The Gators, with 523 yards, joining the 564 they had against Kentucky is the first time since 2008 they have had multiple 500-plus yard games against the SEC.
• The 287 yards of rushing is the most they have had in a game since 2014 against Georgia (in Jacksonville). It is the most they have had in The Swamp since 2011 against UAB (300).
• This is the fifth time the Gators have thrown for more than 200 yards in a game this season – they did it seven times last season. Those 13 combined times are only three short of the 16 times they did it in four years under Will Muschamp.
• The Gators have averaged more than 6.5 yards per play three times this year (Kentucky, North Texas, Missouri). They’ve not done that against two SEC teams in one season since 2008.
• The 7.36 yards per rush average on Saturday, was the highest in a game since Vanderbilt in 2012 (9.31).
• While the offensive line is struggling on the left side (did much better against Missouri) and penalties, the Gators still have only six total sacks on the season, which is 12^th in the country in per game average. On standard downs (first down, second-and-seven (or better), third/fourth-and-4 (or fewer), according to Football Outsiders, the Gators only give up a sack on 1.7% of plays.
• Luke Del Rio has only been sacked 1.4% of pass attempts this season, among the best in the nation.
• The Gators have climbed from 82^nd in the country in points per trip inside the 40-yard line after week one to 44^th with 5.06. This is a category the Gators struggled with last year finishing 99^th in the country with 4.22.
• The Gators have four players (with at least five targets) with a 10.6+ yard per target average. Last season, they had one.
• Gators need to learn to break tackles. They rank 91^st in the country in fewest percentage of tackles by solo tacklers.

Defense

The Gators statistics on defense against Missouri are skewed because they allowed a ton of yards in the fourth quarter, but they were incredible.

• Florida only allowed two completions on forward passes beyond the line of scrimmage.
• Quincy Wilson is currently only allowing opposing quarterbacks to have a 0.4 QB rating against him.
• The Gators have had multiple interceptions in a game for the third game in a row – something they haven’t done since the start of 2010.
• The Gators had 100+ interception yards for the first time since 2011 against Furman. It was also the first time they have returned two interceptions for touchdowns since Furman.
• After the third quarter the Gators had only allowed 150 rushing yards before many starters came out, but the 265 they allowed total was the most since Georgia Southern in 2012.
• According to Football Outsiders, the Gators have the 5^th best first quarter defense and 11^th best second quarter defense.
• The 10 punts Missouri had are the most the Gators have forced since Vanderbilt last season.
• The Gators rank second the country with only 4.13 yards allowed per play.

Special Teams

• Eddy Pineiro’s nine field goals on the season eclipse last season’s entire season total of seven. He is also perfect on the season in extra points, something the Gators haven’t done since 2011.
• Johnny Townsend ranks third in the country in punting average (47.54) and ranks third in the country in punt success rate (Football Outsiders).
• Johnny Townsend has a fair catch/punt inside-the-20 of 64.3% and allow 8.54 yards per return on punts, but allowed zero punts to be returned against Missouri for the second time this season.
• On the contrary, the Gators struggled with punt returns again and currently rank 107^th in the country in punt return success rate. Antonio Callaway against Missouri 1.6 yards per return. Against SEC opponents, Callaway is averaging 0.72 yards per punt return.
• The Gators returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the first time since they played Missouri in 2013.