Here are five takeaways from Missouri’s 42-13 win at Florida.

  • Missouri remains viable in the SEC East. The Tigers should improve to 6-2, 3-1 in the SEC next week against Vanderbilt. There are no guarantees in the East Division right now, but at least by appearances, Mizzou is the only team that can unseat Georgia. Both teams have one conference loss. UGA has three SEC games remaining — vs. Florida, at Kentucky and vs. Auburn. The Bulldogs will be favored in the first two, so Missouri likely needs to win out and hope UGA falls at home to Auburn. That’s unlikely. But after the 34-0 home loss to the Bulldogs, 6-2 and alive in the SEC East looks darn good.
  • Gary Pinkel isn’t taking out Maty Mauk. Pinkel never has removed a starting quarterback due to poor performance with the exception of Corbin Berkstresser, whom James Franklin, the original starter pulled due to injury, replaced. Mauk accounted for 15 touchdowns and four interceptions the first five games of the season. Since? Try zero touchdowns and five interceptions. Oh, and the last three games, in succession, he’s thrown for 132, 97 and 20 passing yards. But Pinkel will stick with Mauk, partially because the offensive line and receivers are at fault more or less to an equal degree. Eddie Printz and Drew Lock may get a chance to supplant him in the offseason, but this is Mauk’s ship to steer in 2014.
  • Marcus Murphy was due for this. The man is dynamite returning kicks and punts. And to think Pinkel strongly considered removing him from kickoff return duties until just before kickoff against South Dakota State in August. After returning four kicks and punts for touchdowns in 2012, Murphy had one touchdown return since — until wracking up two Saturday in The Swamp. His 197 combined return yards in the game move him within 17 return yards of Jeremy Maclin’s school career record of 2,626. Oh, and Murphy added a 5-yard touchdown run Saturday as well.
  • Shane Ray is better than Markus Golden. There. I said it. It’s been apparent by on-field production for a while now, but Golden was the more acclaimed player entering 2014, and got the benefit of the doubt due to a mid-season hamstring injury. But Ray is shooting up NFL draft boards, getting all kinds of midseason love nationally and making steady progress toward Aldon Smith’s school sacks record. On Saturday, he made 1.5 sacks, including a strip of Jeff Driskel, and blocked an extra point. But that Golden kid? He’s pretty good too.
  • Mizzou’s style makes the team baffling to outsiders. The Tigers, recently owners of a nation-best 47-game turnover streak, didn’t produce a defensive takeaway against Indiana, South Carolina or Georgia. Then came Saturday, when Mizzou hounded Driskel, Treon Harris and the Gators into six turnovers, returning two of them for defensive touchdowns. This team, and the defense in particular, relies on sacks and takeaways as much as any team in the SEC. Playing with a lead vs. playing from behind has an exponential affect. This team tends to gravitate toward very good and very bad depending on how the game is going. It creates some vertigo for outsiders watching intently, but it makes complete sense to Tigers faithful who understand the style of play.