Ahmad Hardy and the Tigers Run Past Mississippi State, 49-27

Saturday, November 15

Columbia, Mo.

6:45 p.m. CT

University of Missouri

7-3 , 3-3

Mississippi State

5-6 , 1-6

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Mississippi St.

Missouri

Photo by: Mizzou Athletics

Ahmad Hardy and the Tigers Run Past Mississippi State, 49-27

11/15/2025 10:47:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes

Ahmad Hardy became just the second player in Mizzou history to rush for 300 yards and the Tigers defense scored twice as Mizzou closed out its home schedule with a 49-27 victory over Mississippi State Saturday night before the 20th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium.

With the victory on Senior Night, the Tigers snapped their two-game losing streak and improved to 7-3 for the season and 3-3 in Southeastern Conference play. Mississippi State fell to 5-6 and 1-6 in conference games.

"All week we talked about brothers are born for adversity," Tigers coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. "It had been a rough couple of weeks for our team, and for our brotherhood to stand strong and stand resilient in the face of adversity I was really round of the senior class, really proud of those 20 men."

Hardy carried 25 times for 300 yards – second only to Devin West's school record of 319 against Kansas in 1998 – and scored three touchdowns on runs of 72, 43 and 10 yards. He had 203 yards in the second half. Hardy, from Oma, Mississippi, raised his season rushing total to 1,346 yards – fifth most at Mizzou for a single season – and his TD total to 15.

Mizzou's Toriano Pride Jr. and Marvin Burks Jr. each scored on interception returns in the second half – just the second time in school history that the Tigers had a pair of "pick-sixes" in the same game. The other came in 2006 in a victory at Texas Tech with the scoring returns coming from William Moore and Stryker Sulak.

In the final home game in Mizzou's first season that featured eight contests at Memorial Stadium, the Tigers got off to a quick start. Chris McClellan sacked MSU quarterback Blake Shapen – one of five MU sacks – to force a three-and-out on the Bulldogs' opening series. Hardy got his day started with a 34-yard run to the MSU 31, and three plays later freshman quarterback Matt Zollers lofted a 26-yard touchdown pass between two defenders and into the hands of fellow frosh Donovan Olugbode for a 7-0 Tiger lead.

Aided by a pair of personal foul penalties, the Bulldogs moved into position for a 47-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie that cut the Mizzou lead to 7-3, but Missouri was back on the board again four plays later when Zollers connected with Joshua Manning who broke three tackles on a 34-yard jaunt into the end zone. In his second career start, Zollers completed 8 of 15 passes for 112 yards with two TDs and an interception.

Shapen connected with Brenen Thompson on a 54-yard catch-and-run play down to the Missouri 20-yard line, and Shapen eventually scored on a 2-yard run up the middle on the last play of the first quarter to bring MSU to within 14-10.

Zollers' interception came on MU's next possession, and Mississippi State moved inside the Mizzou 10-yard line with the help of three Missouri personal foul penalties. But the defense stiffened near the goal line and Ferrie lined up for a 25-yard field goal. A low snap bounced off the knee of Bulldog holder Marlon Hauck and the ball popped free. Pride scooped it up, bobbed and weaved through would-be tacklers and danced up the sideline for 60 yards to the MSU 23-yard line.

After a Bulldog offsides penalty on a field goal attempt extended the MU possession, Hardy ran through a wave of tacklers for a 10-yard touchdown that increased Mizzou's lead to 21-10.

Hardy fumbled near midfield on Missouri's first possession of the second half and State's Malick Sylla recovered. The Bulldogs used 10 plays to negotiate 52 yards and Shapen scored on a 3-yard run off left guard that closed the gap to 21-17.

But Hardy redeemed himself later in the third quarter with a 72-yard TD run on which he started left, cut right and sprinted untouched to the end zone to restore Missouri's 11-point lead at 28-17.

On the next play, Shapen's pass intended for Anthony Evans III was broken up by Daylan Carnell and the ball caromed into the hands of Pride who returned it 19 yards for a touchdown. It was the second "pick-six" of Pride's Missouri career.

Missouri's defense scored again early in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State went for it on fourth-and-four at their own 18-yard line. Shapen's pass sailed over the head of Ayden Williams and into the hands of Burks, who returned it 28 yards for a touchdown and upped MU's lead to 42-24.

The Bulldogs later failed on a fourth-and-four situation at their own 43, and on the next play Hardy scored his third touchdown of the game.

Missouri's defenders stuffed the stat sheet. Burks had a team-leading 12 tackles to go with his interception return, and linebacker Khalil Jacobs also reached double figures with 10 stops. Darris Smith had three tackles for loss including two sacks and added a QB hurry to his line. The defense recorded a season-high 13 tackles for loss.

UP NEXT

The Tigers head to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, Nov. 22. Game time at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium will be 11:00 a.m. and the game will be televised by ABC.

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