Missouri Tigers football grades: Analysis from Mizzou’s blowout win over UMass
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Missouri totaled 521 yards and dominated UMass 42-6 on homecoming weekend.
- Ahmad Hardy led a 268-yard ground game with 130 yards and three touchdowns.
- Defense held UMass to 124 total yards, allowing just 19 rushing yards on the day.
Mizzou celebrated homecoming in Columbia with a 42-6 blowout win over the UMass Minutemen.
Now, the Tigers get a week to breathe before a challenging back-half of their schedule. That includes some marquee SEC matchups, starting when Alabama comes to Columbia on Oct. 11.
“Proud of the way our guys fought,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Ultimately, we had game control for most of the game and we were able to get some of our younger guys in there later.”
Here are our grades from Saturday’s win...
Missouri offense
It was another dominant showing by Mizzou’s run game, namely running back Ahmad Hardy. The early Heisman hopeful had 130 yards and three touchdowns to contribute to Mizzou’s run total of 268 yards.
The Tigers put up 521 yards of offense en route to this blowout. Quarterback Beau Pribula was efficient in getting Mizzou down the field, going 26-for-29 on passes for 241 yards with one touchdown.
Grade: A
Missouri defense
The Tigers limited the Minutemen to 124 yards of total offense and just six points, and the highlight was, of course, Mizzou’s defensive front. That group limited UMass to just 19 yards on the ground.
AJ Hairston threw the first passing touchdown that UMass has had all season. It’s not ideal to be the secondary that allows that to happen in Week 5, but overall, UMass quarterbacks combined for 105 yards. MU safety Santana Banner was able to get his first interception ... on defense.
“It felt great,” Banner said postgame. “I had a pick last year on a fake punt for special teams, so it felt really good to get my first one.”
Grade: A-
Missouri special teams
Mizzou freshman DaMarion Fowlkes saw some action in the return game. Fowlkes had a kick return for 44 yards and totaled 30 yards on punt returns, though he did have two drops while in action.
“Well, he showed me that two balls ended up on the ground today,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s gotta be the most important thing, is catching the ball. But I love the way he attacks practice. He’s fearless and I like the speed he plays with. He plays really fast. But you can’t do the old ‘okey-doke’ and drop the ball and pick it up and think that’s real football.”
Punter Connor Weselman was given some more work with four punting opportunities for a total of 170 yards, averaging 42.5 per punt. His longest went 53 yards.
With Mizzou succeeding in the red zone all night, Robert Meyer didn’t have a field goal opportunity, but he went 6-for-6 on extra point attempts.
Grade: B
Area of improvement
The offensive line was an issue again on Saturday, allowing the Minutemen to sack Pribula four times. Entering Saturday, UMass only had four sacks the entire season.
Player of the game: Kevin Coleman Jr.
Running back Ahmad Hardy now has seven straight games with 100-plus rushing yards. And he was arguably the best player on the field again.
But for the sake of avoiding repetition, let’s shout out some other players.
Kevin Coleman Jr. had a career-high of 12 receptions for 108 yards on Saturday, and true freshman Marquise Davis helped the run game with 77 yards on nine carries, including a 23-yard run.
