Watch as Florida, Missouri brawl wildly at halftime after late hit on Kyle Trask

Football

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The No. 10 Florida Gators struggled to get going on Saturday night against the Missouri Tigers, but following a couple quick touchdowns in the second quarter, Florida found its momentum and decided to try a Hail Mary throw on an untimed down before halftime. Somehow, that led to a wild brawl that created significant controversy as the teams entered the locker rooms.

Redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Trask was hit late after dropping back to throw a bomb into the end zone, and his offensive linemen took exception. After some jawing back and forth between players, head coach Dan Mullen ran on the field as the benches emptied and the Gators and Tigers began to fight.

Defensive lineman Zachary Carter and linebacker Antwaun Powell were ejected for Florida, while LB Tre Williams was ejected for Mizzou. However, the offenders for both teams went far beyond those three players. The Tigers had at least 4-5 more players who threw punches, including one who was basically boxing in the scrum. The Gators also had at least two more players who will likely suffer punishment.

“I want to apologize for getting out of character before halftime,” Carter wrote on his Instagram account. “Do not disrespect my QB or my head coach. Im riding for my squad anyday.”

Every player on both teams was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, meaning a second such penalty in the game will result in further ejections in the game. No other penalty was called in the second half.

Mullen said after the game that he was proud the Gators and Tigers did not allow the halftime skirmish to carry over either into the second half or the postgame. Florida and Mizzou played clean football over the final two quarters despite the incident, which Mullen said was heavily circumstantial because it occurred on an untimed down with both teams heading into the locker room on a play that the Gators thought should have been a penalty for a late hit on their star player.

The SEC office in Birmingham, Alabama, will look watch the footage over the next few days and hand down suspensions for the players ejected as well as others for players not named on Saturday night.

That means Florida will most likely be down multiple players, including potentially at a key position like offensive line, ahead of its biggest regular-season game of the year against Georgia.