It helps to have Ahmad Hardy .
Missouri football put an end to its first losing streak in three years with a 49-27 win over Mississippi State on Saturday in Columbia, Missouri, as the Tigers ' standout running back put together one of the best single-game performances in school history.
The Tigers had lost three of their past four games. And after a few lackluster offensive showings over the past month, Mizzou got right while playing on its home field for the final time in 2025
Here's how we graded Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) against Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6):
True freshman quarterback Matt Zollers looked more comfortable than he did a week ago but still made some rookie errors.
His touchdown pass to Donovan Olugbode was excellent situation recognition on the free play, and the pass was excellent. The bones of a very good quarterback are there.
But the mistakes were poor. He threw the first pick of his career on a wildly off-target throw and had a pair of poor intentional grounding penalties. Zollers was 8-of-15 passing for two touchdowns and a pick.
Ahmad Hardy had one of the best single-game rushing days in Mizzou history.
Hardy, who is from Oma, Mississippi, had the second-best single-game rushing yards performance in Mizzou history with 281 yards. Only Devin West in 1998 against Kansas has had a better individual day.
Hardy had touchdown runs of 72, 46 and 10 yards, which brought him up to 15 touchdowns on the season — three short of the school record set by Brad Smith.
This was a top-10 rushing offense versus a bottom-30 rush defense. It looked like it, as Mizzou got its star ball-carrier involved early and often.
It's pronounced 'Oh-loo-ba-day,' and you should commit that to memory. You'll be saying it a lot.
Mizzou's true freshman wideout Donovan Olugbode is emerging as one of the stars of this football team. His first-quarter, 26-yard touchdown reception on a free play in double coverage was tremendous, and a weekly occurrence since he's entered the starting lineup.
This was a better night for the Tigers in the pass game, as the receivers widely gave Zollers more of a helping hand in his second start. Joshua Manning also had a 26-yard touchdown.
It was an undisciplined night from Mizzou all around on defense, with the two most clear and obvious mistakes coming from its normally reliable front.
Both middle linebacker Josiah Trotter and defensive end Nate Johnson were ejected for targeting in the first half.
But … the Tigers had two sacks as part of nine tackles for loss in the first half alone as the penetration up front was stellar. It remained that way even as Mizzou went further down its depth chart.
Penalties don't concern us much when you take home a pair of pick-sixes in the second half.
What a great day for cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. , who recorded the second pick six of his Mizzou career in the third quarter and had a massive return on a bungled Mississippi State field goal operation.
Likewise, Marvin Burks Jr., who found the end zone in the fourth quarter by picking off Shapen on an odd fourth-down try.
We entered this week saying Missouri had to find a way to get Zollers more comfortable, and the run scheme and more-varied playbook accomplished that. It, of course, helps having one of the nation's top tailbacks.
The penalties and poor defensive discipline is concerning, but it was not backbreaking against a subpar Mississippi State squad.
But, it's a win with QB3, and the staff deserves credit for that. Next up: a huge test at Oklahoma .
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football report card. Grading Tigers after win over MSU
