No. 25 Mizzou overwhelms Louisiana, remaining undefeated to start 2025 campaign
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
From start-to-finish, the No. 25 Mizzou football team thoroughly trounced the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 52-10, to move to 3-0 to start the 2025 campaign.
It's the third-straight season that head coach Eli Drinkwitz and company have started a season with three-straight wins.
"We're 3-0. I think there's always room for improvement," Drinkwitz said. "There's plenty of stuff to work on and get better, but I liked their mentality going into the game. I think there's been plenty of teams around the country that go into these types of games, and it's a lot tougher than they want it to be. Our guys made sure it wasn't."
You can watch the postgame press conferences with Coach Drink and his players, along with extended highlights of the game, in the carousel above.
The Tigers set the tone right off the bat, scoring their third-straight opening drive touchdown of the 2025 season, as running back Ahmad Hardy ended a 73-yard, 10-play, run-heavy drive by going untouched into the end zone to take the first lead, 7-0.
On the other side, the defense showed the Ragin' Cajuns exactly what they'd be dealing with all day, at the start of Saturday's action. Louisiana only gained three yards through its first six plays of the game, as the Tiger defense played stifling football. In those first six Ragin' Cajun plays, linebacker Josiah Trotter tallied his first two tackles for loss of the game.
That trend continued on both sides of the ball, through four quarters.
Mizzou scored on its first four drives of the game, taking a 28-0 lead about midway through the second quarter. In that time, in addition to Hardy's first score, wide receiver Marquis Johnson found end zone courtesy of an 11-yard pass from quarterback Beau Pribula, Pribula ran in a 14-yard touchdown and also connected with running back Jamal Roberts on a 39-yard score.
Hardy was the star of the ground-attack, breaking loose for a 71-yard, tackle-breaking touchdown before halftime to extend his Tigers' commanding lead. He ended his day accounting for nearly half of MU's total offense with a game-high 250 yards on 22 carries for three touchdowns.
"[Hardy] is a tough runner. He has a refusal to get tackled. He's got really good vision. I think, other than maybe the counter play down there on the first drive, he hit every hole the way you want to, and he just got a game ball so pretty special performance by him," Drinkwitz said.
During his freshman year, the Louisiana-Monroe transfer lost to the rival Ragin' Cajuns. However, Hardy evened the score on Saturday, registering the seventh-most rushing yards in a single game in Mizzou history.
"Last season, they beat us by 14 points, and I was telling the guys this was a little personal. I wanted to beat them. I wasn't really focused on the yards. I just wanted to beat them," Hardy said.
Overall, the Tigers tallied a staggering 427 yards on the ground, as running backs Jamal Roberts, Marquise Davis - who also got in for a touchdown - and Brendon Haygood all got in on the action, as well.
"Those guys run hard. They run behind their pads. They make it easy to block for," Mizzou offensive lineman Connor Tollison said. "Those guys love football so much, honestly, so like going out there, I'm doing whatever I got to do for them to have a little bit of success."
Pribula had another big outing in his first year starting for the Tigers. The Penn State transfer ended his day completing 68 percent of his passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. In the second quarter, Pribula also used his legs for a 14-yard score to put his team up by 21 points. The only blemish on his record, on Saturday, was when he threw his first interception of the season in the first half.
QB1's go-to guy through the air was wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. That duo connected eight times for 84 yards. Pribula found both wide receiver Marquis Johnson and running back Jamal Roberts for touchdowns through the air, as well.
Louisiana couldn't get much going against the group that has tabbed themselves as 'Death Row' defense. Overall, the Tigers out-gained the Ragin' Cajuns 606 yards to 121, as Mizzou only allowed Louisiana to tally four first downs through four quarters.
"It don't matter the opponent. It don't matter who we play. We just got to go out there and play with relentless effort against a nameless faceless opponent and just do what we do," Mizzou linebacker Khalil Jacobs said.
Altogether, Mizzou tallied eight tackles for loss and two sacks on Louisiana, with defensive end Damon Wilson leading the charge with four tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. Fellow defensive end Zion Young was right behind him with three tackles of his own and a pair of tackles for loss.
In the secondary, cornerback Drey Norwood had quite a day, as well, breaking up two passes and also registering a tackle for loss. With Norwood leading the charge, MU only allowed four total passing yards in Saturday's game.
"I thought we did a good job this week. Coach Batoon had a good plan for us in the passing game, and we went out and was able to execute it," Norwood said.
Up next - Mizzou will look to continue its unbeaten stretch to start the 2025 season with its first SEC matchup of the year. No. 11 South Carolina will come to Columbia, Missouri for the annual Mayor's Cup trophy game on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff will either be at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m.
