The Missouri Tigers football team are high-rolling into the final part of their regular-season schedule after handling a quality Tennessee Volunteers team at home this past Saturday. Their opponent this week are the Florida Gators, a team that has traditionally had Missouri’s number over the years. But the Tigers are having one of their best seasons in school history, with their inclusion in the College Football Playoff not being out of the picture.

Florida quarterback Graham Mertz has 2,720 passing yards on the season, ranking him at No. 5 in the SEC in that category. Unfortunately for the Gators, Brady Cook ranks No. 4 with 2,746 yards in the air.

Missouri is also coming off of a record-breaking game from senior running back Cody Schrader, who became the first player in SEC history with 200+ rushing yards and 100+ receiving yards in the same game. He now sits atop the SEC rushing standings as the only 1,000+ yard rusher with 1,124 on the year. Schrader’s success will undoubtedly create a target on his back that he will have to play with.

To counter Schrader, Florida brings the SEC’s No. 10 ranked rushing defense to Columbia on Saturday. Their leading tackler, sophomore linebacker Shemar James has only one sack on the year. The team’s second-leading tackler is freshman safety Jordan Castell, which is never a good sign when a member of your secondary is one of your top tacklers. Missouri will look to exploit weaknesses in the Gator defense where opportunity presents itself, but they certainly won’t be shy to stray away from the strategies of their successes, mainly in working the ball to Schrader.

The Gators still have plenty to play for, as a win on Saturday would make them bowl-eligible and ensure that they don’t finish with a losing record. Florida will finish their season with a huge in-state rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles next Saturday evening.

While Missouri carries a No. 11 national ranking in the Associated Press poll, the only poll that matters are the College Football Playoff rankings in which Missouri sits at No. 9. It will probably take some convincing wins to propel them, but the idea that the Tigers could be included in the College Football Playoff isn’t a crazy one, but a close game against Florida could certainly hurt those chances. Game time is set for 6:30pm Central Time on ESPN.

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