Jon Sumrall gets his first taste of SEC road life when Florida rolls into Columbia to face a Missouri team trying to prove last year's 8-5 breakthrough wasn't a fluke.
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Best BetMissouri
Missouri gets Austin Simmons and Ahmad Hardy, and that combination alone should make the Tigers the safer side over a Florida team still sorting out its starting quarterback. Sumrall's overhaul brings real talent, but new systems on both sides of the ball in Year 1 usually come with early lumps. Back Missouri here off continuity alone.
Florida
+Jadan Baugh enters as a preseason All-SEC running back
+Overhauled staff under Sumrall brings fresh optimism
+DC Brad White adds proven SEC pedigree
−QB battle between Philo and Jones still unsettled
−Coming off a 4-8 season with a midyear coaching change
−Defense allowed 24 points a game a year ago
Missouri
+Austin Simmons brings proven arm talent from Ole Miss
+Ahmad Hardy ran for 1,649 yards and 16 scores last year
+Staff continuity under Drinkwitz after 29 wins in 3 years
−Lost 10 defensive starters, secondary almost fully rebuilt
−Passing game struggled even before Simmons arrived
−Win total set at just 6.5, modest expectations
Missouri already knows who's taking snaps. Austin Simmons, the left-handed transfer who won the job out of an offseason competition, gives the Tigers a settled answer at quarterback that Florida simply doesn't have yet. Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. are still fighting for QB1 in Gainesville, and Sumrall may end up splitting reps between them early in the year just to find out who's actually ready.
The defensive pictures cut the other way, and neither is pretty. Missouri lost 10 starters off a defense that carried the program to 8 wins a year ago, with the secondary almost completely rebuilt and the front seven down multiple NFL-caliber pieces. Florida's not much better off after a unit that allowed 24 points a game last season, though new coordinator Brad White at least brings an SEC track record to the rebuild.
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FLA Florida
MIZ Missouri
Both programs are selling the same pitch: trust the process, Year 1 growing pains included. Missouri brought in Chip Lindsey and Garrett Riley to fix an offense that stalled for stretches of 2025, while Sumrall stacked Florida's roster with 32 transfers after Billy Napier was fired mid-season at 3-4. Neither team is the finished product yet, which is exactly what makes this one hard to peg.
Florida Gators
Sep 25?vs Ole Miss—
Sep 19?@ Auburn—
Sep 12?vs Campbell—
Sep 5?vs Florida Atlantic—
Missouri Tigers
Sep 25?@ Mississippi State—
Sep 19?vs Troy—
Sep 11?@ Kansas—
Sep 3?vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff—
Recent form.
The name to know on either sideline is Ahmad Hardy. He ran for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns at 6.4 yards a carry last season and shows up on Missouri's Heisman board for a reason. Florida counters with Jadan Baugh, who closed 2025 with a 266-yard demolition of Florida State and enters fall camp with preseason All-SEC buzz of his own. Whichever front seven holds up better on a given down probably decides who controls this game.
Florida Gators
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Missouri Tigers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
This lands early in the schedule, before either roster has really been tested, so treat it as a first real data point rather than a verdict on either program's season. Missouri's staff continuity and offensive weapons give it the tools to win a track meet; Florida's talent influx under Sumrall means the margin for error may be thinner than Missouri's modest 6.5-win total suggests.
