Missouri vs. Florida by the numbers
Missouri (2-3, 0-2) at Florida (3-2, 0-2)
11 a.m. CDT Saturday (ESPNU)
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida
2 Victories for Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz against Florida coach Billy Napier when they were Sun Belt Conference opponents. In 2019, Drinkwitz’s Appalachian State team defeated Napier’s Louisiana team 17-7 in the regular season and 45-38 in the conference championship game.
5 Teams in the nation have allowed their opponents to convert at least half of their third-down snaps into first downs this season, including Florida. The 68 third-down plays against the Gators defense have yielded 34 first downs. The teams that have been worse on third-down defense than Florida have been Colorado, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Charlotte. The Missouri offense has converted one-third of its third-down snaps into first downs (23-of-69), the next-to-worst rate in the SEC in 2022.
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5 Victories for Missouri and five victories for Florida as SEC rivals. The teams played once before the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012. Missouri posted a 20-18 victory in the Sugar Bowl to cap the 1965 season.
6 Consecutive conference games have been lost by Florida, tied for the second-longest league losing streak in school history. The only SEC losing streak that has been longer for the Gators lasted 11 games between a 6-6 tie with Tulane on Oct. 6, 1945, and a 7-7 tie with Tulane on Nov. 15, 1947. Saturday’s game will be one day short of the one-year anniversary of Florida’s most recent SEC victory. The Gators defeated Vanderbilt 42-0 on Oct. 9, 2021, and have lost conference contests to LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee since.
7 Missouri players have recorded a rushing, receiving and punt-return TD in the same season, including WR Luther Burden III in 2022.
36 Years since Florida had an 0-3 conference record, a mark the Gators will own again if they lose to Missouri. In Florida’s first three SEC games of the 1986 season, the Gators lost to Alabama, Mississippi State and LSU.
56 Yards was the longest of Missouri K Harrison Mevis’ five field goals in the Tigers’ 26-22 loss to Georgia last week. It’s the longest three-pointer in the nation this season. Mevis is the only kicker in the nation with three field goals of at least 50 yards in 2022 and two of them came against Georgia.
57 Is the national rank of Florida’s passing offense and Missouri’s passing defense. The Gators have averaged 253.6 passing yards per game in 2022. The Tigers have yielded an average of 216.6 passing yards per game in 2022.
135 Points have been scored against Florida in 2022. That’s the second-most points that the Gators have yielded five games into a season in the SEC era. In 2020, Florida had given up 145 points five games into the season. The only other seasons that the Gators have had more points scored on them in the first five games came in 1917 (195) and 1904 (225).
318 Receiving yards and two TD catches for Missouri WR Dominic Lovett in the past three games after he had 315 receiving yards and no TD catches in the previous 13 games of his college career. Lovett had seven receptions for 132 yards and two TDs in a 34-17 victory over Abilene Christian on Sept. 17, five receptions for 102 yards in a 17-14 overtime loss to Auburn on Sept. 24 and six receptions for 84 yards in a 26-22 loss to Georgia on Oct. 1. With 27 receptions for 460 yards and two TDs in 2022, Lovett has one more reception and 95 more receiving yards than any player in the SEC.
428 Games have been played by Florida since it was most recently shut out, the longest scoring streak in major-college football history by 57 games. The Gators haven’t been blanked since losing to Auburn 16-0 on Oct. 29, 1988.
693 Passing yards and four TD passes in Florida’s past two games for QB Anthony Richardson after he had 979 yards and seven TD passes in his first 13 college games. Before the past two games, Richardson have never thrown for more than 168 yards in game.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.