RECAP: Mizzou football’s underclassmen show out in senior night victory
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou running back Ahmad Hardy and his team ran past Mississippi State...literally...for a dominant senior night victory at Faurot Field, on Saturday night.
Hardy scored nearly half of the Tigers' points against the Bulldogs in the Faurot Field finale, courtesy of three touchdowns and a historic 300-yard rushing performance. That outing made the sophomore just the second player in program history to rushing for at least 300 yards, joining former MU star Devin West, who rushed for 319 yards against Kansas in 1998.
"I was just trying to run by guys," Hardy said. "I didn't try to like run them over and things like that. I just tried to use my speed and it worked out pretty good."
However, the Mississippi native wasn't the only underclassmen to put his talents on display in Mizzou's 22-point win.
Freshman quarterback Matt Zollers and freshman wide receiver Donovan Olugbode also made major contributions to Saturday's victory. In just his second-career start, Zollers completed 53 percent of his passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns, along with one interception.
"I thought he had a good rhythm and looked like he was confident in his reads," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said.
Senior wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. was Zollers' go-to guy, through the air, hauling in four catches for 41 yards. However, Olugbode was right behind him with 31 yards and a touchdown on just two catches.
Some of the freshmen and sophomore stars of Mizzou football lit up the box score, but it was a win that was inspired by a standout group of 20 seniors.
In fact, Hardy said that his historic outing wasn't just motivated by not getting recruited by his hometown school, but mostly for his love of this senior class.
"The seniors. I was doing it for them. I've got No. 9 on my um forearm. I played for Zion Young and the rest of the seniors," he said.
After an up-and-down few weeks, where Mizzou lost three out its last four games, a bounce-back win was needed, as the Tigers readjusted their goals. While a run in the College Football Playoff or a shot at the SEC Championship is now off the table, the Tigers are zeroed in on finishing out the season strong.
The first item on their to-do list was to get a win for the senior class, so they could leave the field with a rock, as every senior in the Drinkwitz era has done before them.
Now, the focus shifts to achieving the program's third-straight 10-win season, which is something no Tiger team has ever been able to accomplish.
"No. 3 team goal is to compete for championships. Right, and so a couple of those championships got knocked off, but there's still a bowl game championship out there, our trophy games are still out there," Drinkwitz said.
You can watch ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones' full recap of Saturday's action on ABC 17 SportsZone at 10:30 on KMIZ.
