GAINESVILLE, Fla. – As Florida’s offense got off to a slow start against Missouri, struggling to finish drives with touchdowns, fans and media members alike openly joked if it might be a game won solely by Eddy Pineiro field goals.

The Gators’ pair of elite cornerbacks put an end to that line of conversation.

With 3:35 left in the second quarter, Missouri started a drive in relatively good field position, its own 37-yard line. The drive lasted all of one play, as Teez Tabor picked off a pass and saw 39 yards of open field all the way to the end zone.

“Coach (Steve) Spurrier came in and he talked about how one guy can affect the whole team,” Tabor said. “I just wanted to be that guy today and I felt like anytime you get a defensive score or a non-offensive score it’s a momentum shift for the whole team. And I felt like I did that for my team today and I was glad I could help my team out.”

Tabor’s score certainly gave the team momentum, but it made one of his teammates especially motivated to step up and make a play.

“Once he gets a pick, he already knows it’s time for me to get one,” Quincy Wilson said of Tabor’s interception.

It didn’t take Wilson long to get his own pick-six.

On Missouri’s next possession, the Tigers were moving the ball on the ground and marching into Florida territory. When the Tigers decided to pass, Wilson made them pay, stepping in front of a route and taking the ball back 78 yards to put another six points on the board for the Gators.

“They had run that same play on me earlier in the game so I was just ready for it the next time,” Wilson said. “I stepped in front of it. I saw I had one guy to beat. I stiff-armed him and went the distance.”

Just like that, the Florida offense went from having a 6-0 lead to a 20-0 advantage, all without taking a snap. Quarterback Luke Del Rio was appreciative of his teammates’ help.

“Tremendous, tremendous lift,” Del Rio said. “We go against the hardest coverages, the hardest defensive secondary, whatever you want to call it, every day. They are definitely the one defense I don’t want to have to play against. They played a tremendous, tremendous game. Quincy and Teez did a great job. That’s why they are two of the best, (and) it did provide a big boost.”

The duo has made it so one can’t talk about one on the field without mentioning the other. For teammates, it’s like that way off the field too.

“It starts off the field. We hang out a lot. We watch film together,” Tabor said. “I mean, if you see me, you see him. The guys in the locker room joke, like, ‘Well we can’t see one without the other.’ It’s a really good friendly competition and competition brings out the best in us all.”

It wasn’t always friendly competition. As freshmen, the pair didn’t see room for both of them to fit into Florida’s secondary.

“At the beginning of freshman year, we weren’t that close. We were competing for the same spot because we had Vernon (Hargreaves),” Tabor said. “So, you know, we didn’t bounce ideas off each other, we really didn’t speak at all. It was kind of like we were fighting for the same spot, so we weren’t friends at all. Like, we didn’t say anything, bounce ideas off each other, nothing.

“Towards the end of our freshman year we kind of both realized, like, ‘Hey man, he can play a little bit.’ And, you know, we felt like we were kind of getting up there with Vernon a little bit. And to not envy each other — I don’t want to say envy — but not be cool. We were just like, man, we both can play and when we both get our shot, people are going to really take notice.”

Since the pair are both juniors, the NFL is taking notice. Tabor was penciled in as a first-round draft pick by many before the season even started, and now some scouts are starting to say that Wilson might be the best cornerback in Florida’s secondary.

For now, the two are happy to promote themselves as a duo.

“We always say, ‘Man, we the best in the business,’” Wilson said.