Florida Football: Three pathways the Gators can defeat Missouri

The narrative surrounding Florida football isn’t the greatest right now. The Gators are 5-5 and even though the offense has looked better the last couple of weeks, the defense has completely collapsed over the last month.

But we here at Hail Florida Hail always like to keep the faith, and we believe the following are three ways the Gators can pull off the upset over 9th-ranked Missouri this Saturday.

Florida Football Pathways To Victory

Tackle Luther Burden

Former five-star prospect Luther Burden was held mostly in check last season in The Swamp. This season, however, he has looked every part of a five-star, with 981 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.

Similar to Florida’s Tre Wilson, a major part of his success is his yards after the catch. On average, Burden gets targeted 8.5 yards down the field, only the 7th most among Missouri receivers, and his average catch is only 5.9 yards down the field.

But Burden averages 14.4 yards per catch because he averages 8.5 yards after the catch.

The translation is that if Florida can literally just tackle Burden, they have a shot.

Redzone Scoring

For as maligned as Florida’s offense is, they are 43rd in the country at punts per score. For every ten scores the Gators have had, they punt eight times.

Conversely, the defense for Missouri forces 11 punts for every ten scores they give up, 51st in the country.

So, if based on the law of averages, the Gators are alternating score, punt, score, punt it is imperative that those scores are touchdowns and not just field goals.

Get Tre Wison The Ball

Not counting the end-of-the-half drive or the 13-play drive Florida had at the end of the game that ended in a turnover on downs, Florida had six drives that didn’t end in points against LSU.

On five of those drives, Tre Wilson didn’t have a reception.

One of the habits Billy Napier has had is featuring Wilson at the start of the game before going through a lull where he seems to forget he has Wilson at his disposal.

Knowing the defense for Florida football is vulnerable, and the Gators have to keep scoring, Wilson needs to get the ball early and often.