The Missouri Tigers are a perfect 6-0 straight up and against the spread, and will look to stay perfect this Saturday hosting the Florida Gators. Missouri is a 3-point home underdog but getting lots of respect from oddsmakers, bettors and the OddsShark.com college football computer, which is predicting an upset.
Florida vs. Missouri betting odds, trends, and pick: Loss of James Franklin critical
Missouri won big but lost big in Week 7 and are small home underdogs to Florida on the college football odds menu this week. The computer likes the Tigers; our handicappers pick the Gators. This article was provided to SB Nation by OddsShark.com.
Sam Greenwood
A 41-26 win on the road over Georgia last week put an exclamation point on what has been a fantastic season for the Missouri Tigers so far. Averaging 45.7 points per game on offense this season, the Tigers are 6-0 SU and ATS with two wins over SEC opponents.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, in the win over Georgia star QB James Franklin separated his shoulder. With Franklin out, it is hard to see the offense continuing to perform at the level it has been.
The Florida Gators defense held strong last Saturday on the road against LSU, holding Zach Mettenberger and the Tigers to just 17 points. But the offense was unable to get anything going as the Gators lost 17-6, falling to 4-2 SU and 2-4 ATS on the season.
Florida’s defense is allowing just 13 points per game, a stat made even more impressive by the fact that the Gators have faced some strong offensive teams; but with the offense sputtering, it will be difficult to win if Missouri can get something going on offense.
The Gators are 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 games as favorites. The total has gone UNDER in seven of Florida’s last eight games. With the Gators struggling on offense and the Tigers missing their starting quarterback, that trend could continue this Saturday. The game total is currently set at 44 points. Last year’s game between these two teams went well under the total as Florida won 14-7 at home.
James Franklin is such an important part of this offense that it is difficult to project how the team will do without him. Missouri’s defense has allowed 27 points per game in conference play, and while Florida’s offense isn’t very scary, defense isn’t the Tigers’ strength.
With an elite defense going up against a backup quarterback, we like Florida to come out on top this Saturday.
PICK: Florida -3 | Prediction: 30-22 Missouri, but we are not sure how well the computer accounted for James Franklin’s injury in making this pick.
