Mizzou and Florida were stuck in the mud on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, until 1 really big play allowed the 25th-ranked Tigers to break free, at least for the time being.
It was a 47-yard touchdown pass from Austin Simmons to Donovan Olugbode, and it came on a first-and-10 play that went a little off script but got the job done to give Mizzou what turned out to be a short-lived, 10-3 lead with 10:06 left before halftime.
Simmons took the snap, dropped back and looked a little flustered before he saw Olugbode running free down the middle. The lefty quarterback flung the ball to the sophomore wideout, who bounced off a would-be tackler at about the Florida 15-yard line and raced into the end zone to give the Tigers that 7-point lead.
It looked a little awkward but nobody in Columbia was complaining when they were celebrating the first TD of the game by either team.
No. 8 Florida would tie the game at 10-10 later in the second quarter on its own touchdown pass by Aaron Philo, so after the teams exchanged field goals in the first quarter, they exchanged touchdowns in a second quarter that was winding down.
Mizzou and Florida were fighting in a low-scoring SEC battle, at least in the first half. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about which team has the better chance to prevail when the dust settles later on Saturday:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
