By Matt Smith
SouthernPigskin.com

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Missouri stayed at the top of the SEC East race with an ugly, but effective, 42-13 win over Florida in Gainesville.

Missouri stayed at the top of the SEC East race with an ugly, but effective, 42-13 win over Florida in Gainesville. The Tigers improve to 5-2, and 2-1 in the SEC. The Gators fall to 3-3, but more importantly, are now 2-3 in conference play.

Lets look at five takeaways from the Tigers rout in The Swamp.

1. This game was less about what Missouri did do and more about what Florida didnt do. The Tigers managed just 119 yards of total offense, capitalizing on four non-offensive touchdowns. Saturdays recipe was more like what Missouri used in its 12-2 season, albeit with a bit more offense. Marcus Murphy is a special teams demon, and Shane Ray and Markus Golden looked like the star defensive ends that they are. This team may not win the way Gary Pinkel wants it to, but it should allow the Tigers to come out of the season with a decent record.

2. Treon Harris is not the answer for Florida 3 at least not this year. The true freshman quarterback was overwhelmed in his three first-half series, proving why Florida has been so hesitant to pull Jeff Driskel despite his own flaws. Hell be a much better player a year from now, but if Will Muschamp is looking for a job-saving performances from Harris, its not happening. Let him play ahead of Driskel, by all means, but dividends wont be paid until next season, when an entirely new offense is likely to be in place.

3. Lets address the sweaty elephant in the room. I understood why Jeremy Foley fired Ron Zook in late October back in 2004. He knew there was going to be an arms race for Urban Meyer, and he had to stay ahead of the competition. Theres not that cgot to haved guy out there this year, so a midseason firing of Muschamp seems less likely here. But were also in a different era now. Zook even finished out the 2004 season as coach. That would never happen nowadays. With a bye week before the Cocktail Party, it might be time for Florida to part ways with Muschamp.

4. Maty Mauk continues to baffle. Forget Bo Wallace. Mauk by far has the widest gap between ceiling and floor of SEC quarterbacks. His arm strength and athletic ability make him dangerous on every play, but the poor decision-making has and will continue to hold the Tigers offense back. He managed just 20 yards passing, a comically low total in a loss, let alone a 29-point win. Hes only a sophomore, so theres time to clean his game up, but until then, the offense will struggle to find consistency.

5. The SEC East race. Georgia and Missouri both have one loss, with Kentucky right behind them with two losses. Neither the Bulldogs nor the Tigers have overly difficult remaining schedules, but Georgia does have to play Auburn. If Georgia can post 6-2, it should feel pretty good. Missouri might be better than each of its final five opponents (Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Arkansas), but its not going to go 5-for-5. The Bulldogs would win a tiebreaker at 6-2 by virtue of their win in Columbia last week.