In Missouri’s 45-17 victory over No. 8 Florida, the Tigers saw improvement in nearly every facet of the game. On the defensive side, the Tigers’ tackling took the biggest jump, leading to Missouri’s strongest defensive performance of the year. Even Austin Simmons, who had been stellar through four weeks, showed notable improvement in multiple areas.
Here are the three biggest PFF takeaways, followed by every Tigers’ snap count on offense and defense.
Tackling shines
To shut down star running back Jadan Baugh, Missouri’s tackling needed to take a huge jump, and on Saturday, the Tigers did just that. Out of 21 players with a PFF tackling grade, 18 of them surpassed 70.
Baugh ended the night with 12 rushes for 13 yards and the Gators’ 25 rushes went for 42 yards. Missouri left little room to break out due to its superior tackling, allowing just three runs longer than 10 yards.
Kensley Loudior-Faustin and Santana Banner particulary shined in the slot for the Tigers, combining for 49 snaps in the slot and posting grades of 81 and 85 respectively. Banner’s nine tackles ranked second on Missouri and Louidor-Faustin accumulated a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss.
Defensive depth was crucial
Without starting edges Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen, the Tigers’ depth on the defensive line showed up against Florida.
The edge room featured Daeden Hopkins with 49 snaps and a combination of Jaden Jones, Kamauryn Morgan and Malik Bryant, who combined for 46 snaps. While those four stayed active in preventing an offensive explosion, the tackles and linebackers thrived alongside them.
Six defensive tackles played between 21 and 36 snaps and four linebackers played between 30 and 40 snaps. Coming off the bench, Jason Dowell led the team in defensive grade and hurries, Mark Hensley added 21 snaps and a fifth-best defensive grade of 72.9 and Dante McClellan recorded a defensive line-best 77.8 tackling grade.
Austin Simmons improves, again
Through four weeks of game play, Austin Simmons was arguably the most reliable Tiger. At that point he had thrown 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions and was leading a new-look offense that avoided last year’s problems of staying one-dimensional.
Despite his hot start, heading into Saturday’s matchup Simmons had two areas of concern: lack of success under pressure and inconsistency on deep balls. After going 4-for-5 on passes longer than 20 yards and converting 4-of-6 passes under pressure, Simmons looked stellar in spots he previously struggled. Before the matchup against Florida, Simmons was 9-for-19 on deep balls and 2-for-11 under pressure.
Simmons’ highest PFF grade of the night came on deep balls, posting a 91.7. He also improved his grade under pressure from his season average of 29.8 to a game grade of 58.8. The senior quarterback ended with 340 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Snap count totals are below.
Offense
Quarterbacks
Austin Simmons – 67 snaps
Wide receivers
Donovan Olugbode – 54 snaps
Cayden Lee – 43 snaps
Naeshaun Montgomery – 38 snaps
Caleb Goodie Sr. – 22 snaps
Kenric Lanier II – 13 snaps
Shaun Terry II – 4 snaps
DaMarion Fowlkes – 2 snaps
Running backs
Jamal Roberts – 52 snaps
Xai’Shaun Edwards – 14 snaps
Anthony Favrow – 1 snap
Center
Dominick Giudice – 67 snaps
Guards/tackles
Tristan Wilson – 67 snaps
Curtis Peagler – 67 snaps
Luke Work – 67 snaps
Cayden Green – 67 snaps
Tight ends
Jordon Harris – 46 snaps
Brett Norfleet – 35 snaps
Jude James – 11 snaps
Defense
Safeties
Santana Banner – 56 snaps
Trajen Greco – 50 snaps
Elijah Dotson – 38 snaps
Kensley Louidor-Faustin – 36 snaps
Jayden McGregory – 11 snaps
CJ Bass III – 11 snaps
Jackson Hancock – 7 snaps
Cornerbacks
Chris Graves Jr. – 60 snaps
Sione Laulea – 56 snaps
Jahlil Florence – 9 snaps
Nick DeLoach Jr.- 7 snaps
Cameron Keys – 6 snaps
Linebackers
Nicholas Rodriguez – 40 snaps
Robert Woodyard Jr. – 31 snaps
Dante McClellan – 31 snaps
Jeremiah Beasley – 30 snaps
JJ Bush – 4 snaps
Brian Huff – 3 snaps
Edge rushers
Daeden Hopkins – 49 snaps
Jaden Jones – 25 snaps
Kamauryn Morgan – 11 snaps
Malik Bryant – 10 snaps
Demarcus Johnson – 4 snaps
Cavan Tuley – 3 snaps
Defensive tackles
Sterling Webb – 36 snaps
Jason Dowell – 34 snaps
Donta Simpson – 31 snaps
Marquis Gracial – 27 snaps
Jalen Marshall – 22 snaps
Mark Hensley – 21 snaps
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