Mizzou pounds the rock to beat Arkansas, 31-17
The Missouri Tigers barely turned to the air. In fact, out of 65 total plays, Mizzou threw the ball just seven times, with four completions.
But it didn’t matter as the Tigers piled up 322 rushing yards to beat Arkansas, 31-17, and retain possession of the Battle Line Trophy for a fourth consecutive year and ninth year in the past 10.
“Every game has a life of its own. You got to find a way to win it,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “Really, really proud of those guys.”
Drinkwitz took a ride on the trophy out of the stadium after the Tigers finished off the grueling win.
But it wasn’t always a sure thing.
The Tigers trailed at halftime because Mizzou handed Arkansas 10 first-half points with self-inflicted wounds.
A Beau Pribula fumble on an attempted screen turned into a 32-yard Arkansas touchdown. Then a high snap on a punt late in the half turned into an Arkansas 28-yard field goal to take a 17-14 lead into the break.
“We’re trying to throw a screen, so your quarterback’s just going to try to catch and get the ball out quick so he doesn’t have the laces,” Drinkwitz said.
Running away
But it was all Tigers after the break.
Ahmad Hardy once again showed why he is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. He took a run that looked to be stopped for a short gain and turned it into a 53-yard touchdown.
“I recognized he was pulling me down and I was like, ‘I can’t let him turn my Achilles,'” Hardy said. “So I tried to run a little harder. And then I broke it.”
“If he needed this game to make a convincing final argument, I don’t know what else they need to see,” Drinkwitz said of Hardy’s chance for the Doak Walker. “I thought he started a little bit slow, but the rush he made to pus us up, I mean, there were four guys around and everybody thought he was tackled. And he refuses to go down that last drive. We continue to find ways for him to just keep his feet moving and churning.”
Then the Tigers were set up for a touchdown to make it a two-score game after Jamal Roberts broke free for a 38-yard run on third-and-14. But after Missouri got to first-and-goal from the 9, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty put the Tigers at the 19. Then a sack left Mizzou with a 41-yard field goal attempt.
Mizzou sent out Oliver Robbins, who handled all the kicking duties for the day, and he nailed the deep attempt.
With a six-point lead, the Tiger defense still needed a stop. And Mizzou got it with an incomplete pass and two straight sacks from Josiah Trotter and Damon Wilson. On the punt, the Tigers’ special teams unit made its best play of the season as Kevin Coleman caught a punt at the Mizzou 33 and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown.
“That was my first one in my career,” Coleman said. “I got one on kick return, but not punt return. So for that to come at this time, in this point, my last game, that was special.”
“We needed it,” Drinkwitz said. “We had two special teams miscues so far in this game. And so for them to be able to create a spark and give us the space we needed for us to get the return to put the game away.”
Starting off hot
The Tigers came out of the gates firing.
Marquis Johnson took the initial kickoff 40 yards to start Mizzou at its own 40. Then Pribula kept a read option and ran it for 49 yards on the first play from scrimmage.
Pribula kept another run for 7 more yards and Roberts finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
It took just three plays for Mizzou to get on the board and take the lead.
But the self-inflicted wounds kept Mizzou from pulling away.
After Arkansas took a 14-7 lead on the fumble recovery touchdown, Mizzou put together another good drive in the second quarter.
The Tigers ran nine plays to go 75 yards, helped by 15 yards on one of Arkansas’ 16 penalties to set up a Pribula 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 14 with 9:40 left before halftime.
“Once we had the fumble on the screen, we just said, ‘Man, they haven’t stopped us yet running the ball. So until they stop us, we don’t need to play left handed,'” Drinkwitz said. “… We needed to lean on our strength until they could take it away from us.”
Stats
Mizzou ran the ball 58 times for 322 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 5.6 yards per carry.
Pribula was just 4-of-7 passing for 25 yards. But he rushed 16 times for 78 yards and a score.
Roberts had 11 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown.
Hardy had 27 carries for 157 yards and a touchdown. He ended the regular season with 1,560 yards. He is 18 yards back of Devin West for third in program history, 44 yards behind Tyler Badie in second and 67 yards behind Cody Schrader for first.
Missouri’s defense allowed 185 passing yards on 17-of-30 passing split between KJ Jackson and Taylen Green.
Arkansas ran 25 times for 61 yards.
Up next
Mizzou finishes the regular season with an 8-4 record and will wait to find out its bowl fate.