Mizzou has ‘two great running backs.’ One is making serious noise this season
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- Ahmad Hardy led Missouri with 130 rushing yards and three touchdowns Saturday.
- Hardy's early injury scare did not prevent a dominant performance against UMass.
- Backup Jamal Roberts aided momentum with key plays, including a 30-yard rush.
Missouri began its 42-6 rout of UMass on Saturday no differently than it had most of its games this season: with the football in running back Ahmad Hardy’s hands.
After the Tigers’ defense forced a three-and-out within the first 1:18 of the game at Memorial Stadium, Hardy asserted himself with a 14-yard rush on the first snap. Three plays later, he rushed to the right side of the field for another big gain of 18 yards.
Hardy continued to push through the Minutemen with a 7- and 2-yard rush on back-to-back snaps, but on the latter one, he took an atypical amount of time to get up.
The sophomore walked off the field and into the injury tent before hopping on the stationary bike.
Right then, Hardy’s night could have been over. Mizzou opting to rest him and pivot to Jamal Roberts was possible in preparation for a duel with No. 17 Alabama in two weeks. But after UMass picked off quarterback Beau Pribula and finished the drive with a touchdown, Hardy stepped back on Faurot Field and got to work.
In an eight-play drive helped by a 30-yard rush from Roberts, it was Hardy who finished it off with a 5-yard touchdown; the Tigers led 14-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Minutemen weren’t going to escape him. Hardy had plenty more to showcase.
The 100-yard streak is still alive. Hardy rushed for 130 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns. Even with Mizzou leading 21-6 at halftime, he kept toying with the UMass defense well into the third quarter.
Hardy’s second touchdown came in the second quarter. He took six of 14 snaps for a total of 29 yards — including a 15-yard rush up the middle to give the Tigers a first down on the Minutemen’s 19-yard line. By then, it was clear Missouri didn’t have to worry about any wear and tear on its leading rusher.
The first drive of the third quarter had Hardy’s strength on full display. He bulldozed through a UMass defender and balanced on his tippy toes to reach the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown. That marked his ninth TD of the season and second performance with three scores.
The discrepancy in rushing offenses between the sides was as stark as a week ago in Mizzou’s 29-20 win over South Carolina. The Tigers finished with 268 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Hardy had help.
Roberts continues to be a significant presence in the backfield, as he ran for 52 yards on six attempts. He kicked off the game with the first touchdown on a 9-yard rush. Paired with Hardy, the two make for quite the one-two punch.
“I’m happy we’ve got two great running backs,” receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. said. “I told them they remind me of the Detroit Lions backfield — they both need each other. You just don’t want one guy getting all the carries. You want a break.”
True freshman Marquise Davis got more reps, finishing the game as the second-leading rusher with 77 yards on nine attempts.
Tavorus Jones even got in on the action with his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter.
He recorded 24 rushing yards on four carries in his first appearance since the season opener against Central Arkansas.
The Missouri defense gets equal credit with its ability to stop the run. UMass totaled 19 rushing yards. Even without quarterback AJ Hairston’s 15-yard sack loss, leading running back Rocko Girffin could only muster 23 rushing yards.
Mizzou’s front seven remains a force to be reckoned with, and opposing offenses have yet to figure out how to get past them. That front has only allowed 153 rushing yards, 84 of which came on one play against Louisiana.
“For the most part, I thought they did a nice job,” coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “We kind of anticipated that we’d be able to knock out the run today. For us, it’s about improvement, and again, we’ll get tested pretty good here in two weeks.”
The Tigers will have quite the home matchup against Alabama at 11 a.m. on Oct. 11. The Crimson Tide just took down No. 5 Georgia on Saturday and will face No. 18 Vanderbilt next week (Mizzou has a bye). Last year, Alabama beat Mizzou 34-0 in Tuscaloosa.
It will be just Hardy’s fourth career game against an SEC opponent, but nothing seems to stop him. Missouri presumably will lean on Hardy yet again as it seeks to avenge last season’s loss.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 10:44 AM.