Mizzou football report card: Grading the Missouri Tigers’ regular season finale
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mizzou dominated Arkansas with 322 rushing yards and two 100-yard backs.
- Quarterback Beau Pribula struggled in pass game, sacked twice and fumbled.
- Defense earned an A, limited Arkansas to 246 yards and forced turnovers.
The Missouri Tigers brought home another Battle Line victory on Saturday, rolling up 322 rushing yards in a 31-17 Southeastern Conference road win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Mizzou’s Ahmad Hardy was nearly impossible to stop, rumbling for 157 of those yards.
“It’s really not close who’s the best back in college football,” MU coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters in Fayetteville, Arkansas after the game.
Jamal Roberts also had a 100-yard day. Each MU running back also accounted for a touchdown, highlighted by Hardy’s 53-yard effort — a play on which it initially appeared he’d be swallowed up by Arkansas defenders.
That was one of a host of exciting plays for Missouri Saturday. Here’s how we graded the Tigers in their regular-season (and SEC) finale:
Offense: B
Two 100-yard rushers, and the quarterback ran for another 78? You certainly have to give the MU offense its props.
Hiccups in the passing game knock down this mark slightly. Missouri’s Beau Pribula completed just four of seven passes for 25 yards and lost a fumble when the ball simply slipped out of his hands.
Pribula was also sacked twice, perhaps holding onto the ball a bit too long.
Grade: B
Missouri defense: A
This was yet another standout showing for the Tigers’ defense, which allowed just one offensive touchdown. The hosts’ other TD was a defensive scoop-and-score.
Arkansas managed just 246 yards of total offense — a mere 61 on the ground. That’s notable because the Hogs came in averaging 203.8 rushing yards per game. The SEC’s third-leading rusher, Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr., had just 50 vs. MU.
Josiah Trotter was a disruptive standout for the Tigers with 10 tackles (two for loss) and a sack. Jalen Catalon accounted for two of MU’s four sacks.
Grade: A
Missouri special teams: D
Ah yes, special teams.
Kevin Coleman Jr.’s punt return keeps this grade from being lower. Special teams play has been a season-long issue for the Tigers. And this game brought a pair of botched snaps.
One set up a Razorbacks field-goal drive; the other cost the Tigers an extra point. Those sorts of mistakes should be cleaned up at this point in the season.
Grade: D
Area for improvement
Special teams is our choice this week. See the above section.
Player of the game: Ahmad Hardy
With another day of Hardy carrying the Mizzou offense, this one was a no-brainer.
