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“This is the SEC, and you’ve got a really good football team. We need everybody to show up, be early, be loud, create that home-field advantage that we know we can and take it to another level because we know it’s there.�

There’s part of me that hears Drinkwitz talking up the importance of this weekend’s SEC and likens it to a WWE wrestling “manager� promoting an upcoming pay-per-view event, serving as a hype man for his program and its 13-game home win streak.

Then again, I’d make the case that Drinkwitz didn’t even give the full sales pitch. Mizzou’s performance this weekend won’t just be a run-of-the-mill conference opener. It’s got the opportunity to serve as a tone-setting game for the rest of this season and begin to frame the national view of Mizzou this season in .

While the Tigers (3-0) enter this week ranked No. 23 in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll, let’s not forget that they were picked 12th in the SEC this summer in the conference’s preseason media poll.

Twelfth.

In other words, the perception of this Mizzou program was that its closer to Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Kentucky than the conference’s blue bloods.

Meanwhile, South Carolina came in behind only Texas, Georgia, Alabama and LSU.

Yes, the same South Carolina that stole — heck, snatched — a late four-point win out of Mizzou hands last season in the other Columbia (South Carolina).

South Carolina (2-1, 0-1) enters this week teetering a bit following a 31-7 loss at home to Vanderbilt, a contest that saw South Carolina star quarterback knocked out of the game in the first half.

Sellers’ status remains uncertain for this weekend.

Regardless of whether Sellers plays, Mizzou needs to come into this week’s game on its home field like it smells blood in the water. If South Carolina needs this game to pick itself up off the mat, Mizzou should have the attitude that they’re going to jump on them quickly, shove this team back down on the mat and see if they can’t break their spirit.

The idea should be to send South Carolina spiraling to the point where folks out there start freaking out about their program. You definitely can’t be the get-right game for a team licking its wounds. It can’t be that.

Well, unless you’re embracing that prior perception.

Ahem.

Twelfth.

Mizzou knocked the snot out of Louisiana, as they should’ve. That game was interesting in that it came after the rivalry tilt with Kansas and before this SEC opener.

When I asked running back Ahmad Hardy why Mizzou was able to avoid a letdown, he offered an answer Mizzou fans had to love.

“We have relentless effort,� Hardy said right after a 250-yard, three-touchdown performance. “Every game, we treat it the same. We try and get better every single day. It don’t matter if we’re playing Kansas, South Carolina or the next. We coming in, we trying to win and we trying to get better every day.�

That’s a perfect mindset. Expressed exactly as you’d want.

Now, Mizzou has the chance to prove it in a big way in front of its home crowd. They get to prove that they’re not just one of those “other� programs in the SEC. They get to show that they plan to have real impact on how things shake out in the SEC, with games still to come against Alabama, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Did I mention that Mizzou was picked to finish 12th in the conference?

I’m not saying Mizzou should be expected to roll through South Carolina. What I am saying is that this is a chance to make an early statement about where Mizzou stands as a program by bringing their A-game against a highly regarded opponent.

Are they going to rush for 400 yards for a second consecutive game? No. Not likely. Last week was the first time they’d reached that mark during Drinkwitz’s tenure.

One thing they can do is clean up the miscues and breakdowns in pass protection and give Beau Pribula a chance to show that he’s one of the more capable quarterbacks in a conference with some big-name signal callers.

South Carolina’s defensive front will present the biggest test so far.

A hat tip to senior center Connor Tollison for displaying a measure of leadership by putting the burden on himself to correct some of that after Saturday’s game.

“More of a communication thing on my end,� Tollison said of the key to improving the pass protection. “Just making sure everybody knows what they’re doing, like everybody knows their job and assignment and then just making the right call. I don’t know if I made the right call every time today. So I think just me being better, making betters calls will help out too.�

Defensively, the Tigers can prove that they’ve turned a corner after falling victim to multiple big plays against Kansas and the Jayhawks’ dynamic quarterback.

This coming Saturday night will provide a test of the Mizzou environment, as Drinkwitz already pointed out. It will also test whether this Mizzou football team has the ability to put its foot on the throat of a talented team that has recently stumbled.

As a whole, this weekend will give us our first clue whether or not Mizzou’s program has the swagger to stick it to all those folks who looked at it as a conference also-ran.

“We’re 3-0, you know?� Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said after Saturday’s win against the Ragin’ Cajuns. “... 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 going to these types of games and it’s a lot tougher than they want it to be.�

MU’s next quarter of the season — South Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday, UMass on Sept. 27, Alabama on Oct. 11 — will see its first foray into the Southeastern Conference, where 11 teams including the Tigers are ranked Top 25.

Only three of the league’s teams — Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky — did not receive at least one vote in the most recent poll from The Associated Press.

The SEC remains deep, talented and deeply talented.

Yet it’s also wide open, as shown by its quarterback situations.

Taking stock of the SEC’s signal-callers is an intriguing thought experiment for this week. So is placing Missouri’s Beau Pribula, who’s had a very encouraging first three games in black and gold, in that hierarchy.

The team with the best quarterback doesn’t automatically win the conference, but strength at the most important position in football can only help as a possible difference maker in a league that looks to have a high degree of parity.

The SEC’s best team right now, at least according to the polls, is No. 3 Louisiana State. LSU beat Clemson, Florida and Louisiana Tech to start the season, but it’s been the Tigers’ defense — led by former MU defensive coordinator Blake Baker — leading the way. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and the LSU offense have yet to score more than 23 points in a game, even against three teams with unspectacular to poor defenses.

Nussmeier’s team might look the most like a national title contender right now, but he’s not the sole reason why.

Same goes for No. 5 Georgia, led by Gunner Stockton. He looked pedestrian in two breezy wins over Marshall and Austin Peay but leveled up for a road win Saturday against Tennessee. If he plays like he did in Knoxville — 74.2% completion rate, 304 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing score — Stockton will finish up there in the QB hierarchy. For now, there’s still room to grow.

One of the most followed stories in all of college football has been the pedestrian start to the season from Arch Manning, the quarterback of No. 8 Texas, who looks mortal after all. He’s now tied for 16th in Heisman odds. It’s probably more a reflection of how quickly his hype train had gained steam than anything else, but Manning’s stature in the SEC is not what it was thought to be.

No. 10 Texas A&M picked up a nail-biter of a win at Notre Dame on Saturday but did that almost despite quarterback Marcel Reed, who completed less than 50% of his passes and benefited from the Fighting Irish failing to pick him off.

Of the SEC’s top five teams, it’s John Mateer at Oklahoma who seems like the best in the conference thus far. After transferring over from Washington State with his offensive coordinator, Mateer’s leading the league in completions and passing yards. He’s also got the best Heisman odds in the country.

Yet of those five teams, it’s really only Mateer and Nussmeier who would make many lists of the SEC’s five best quarterbacks.

Diego Pavia deserves a spot in there, having lost none of the magic that helps No. 20 Vanderbilt stun opponents. The word is and has been out about what he can do, but South Carolina was powerless to stop it over the weekend.

Save a spot, too, for Joey Aguilar, the Tennessee quarterback who’s made the No. 15 Vols feel much better than expected about their signal-caller situation. Aguilar transferred to Rocky Top as the less-hullabaloo’d half of a “trade� that sent Nico Iamaleava to UCLA and booted Aguilar from the Bruins to the Volunteers. Given that the Bruins are 0-3 and fired their coach Sunday, Aguilar already came out on the right side of that flashpoint.

He did throw two picks in Tennessee’s overtime loss to Georgia but also posted 371 passing yards and five total touchdowns. Aguilar has been one of the biggest risers in stature this season.

There are other SEC quarterbacks who could wind up in the top five, if nothing else, because of their team’s success. Think Austin Simmons, currently injured for No. 13 Mississippi or Ty Simpson of a No. 14 Alabama team that still looks vulnerable.

LaNorris Sellers, the South Carolina quarterback whom Mizzou might face this weekend, depending on how his recovery from a presumed concussion suffered Saturday goes, may also be in there.

But now to Pribula, the Penn State transfer starting for the first time this season, with the Tigers.

He’s leading the SEC in completion percentage, sixth in the league in passing yards, tied for fifth in passing touchdowns, fourth in passer rating and fourth in quarterback rushing touchdowns.

Those statistical leaderboards aren’t completely fair yet, as Pribula has yet to even face an SEC defense.

Still, looking around the league, it’s clearly possible that he could get there: play like not just a top-half quarterback but top five — or better. Missouri has shown depth and other strengths to a degree that its 2025 iteration is not dependent on a star quarterback to produce results, but Pribula comparing so favorably to his SEC peers would only help Mizzou this season.

Among the highlights:

• Running back Ahmad Hardy pacing the nation's tailbacks in... just about every metric.
• A more pedestrian day for quarterback Beau Pribula.
• Two offensive linemen putting together excellent outings.

All of that, plus complete snap counts, is below.

If this is your first PFF rodeo, or you just need a reminder:ÌýPFF is not perfect in its grades, as you'll notice soon enough. They're just a convenient, simple way to quantify player performances — and nothing more. Rest assured nobody on the MU coaching staff is making decisions based on PFF grades.

The site bases all of its grades, including college ones, on an "NFL standard": 90-100 is elite, 85-89 is Pro Bowl caliber, 70-84 is starting level, 60-69 means backup and anything between 0-59 is replaceable.

With that in mind, this week's findings:

Offensive line

• RG Curtis Peagler, 64 snaps, 60.7 grade
• LT Cayden Green, 60 snaps, 92.0
• LG Dominick Giudice, 60 snaps, 78.1
• C Connor Tollison, 60 snaps, 78.1
• RT Keagen Trost, 60 snaps, 89.6
• RG/C Tristan Wilson, 44 snaps, 73.0
• LT Jayven Richardson, 24 snaps, 72.3
• LG Jaylen Early, 24 snaps, 65.5
• RT Johnny Williams IV, 24 snaps, 51.6
• RG Keiton Jones, 4 snaps, 66.4
• RT Jack Lange, 4 snaps, 58.9
• C Henry Fenuku, 4 snaps, 61.8
• LT Whit Hafer, 4 snaps, 65.4
• LG Ryan Jostes, 4 snaps, 60.3

That's pretty much the whole cast right there. Peagler played the most snaps despite rotating at right guard with Wilson seemingly because the coaching staff is giving that position a look. Wilson posted the better PFF grades in both pass blocking and run blocking, but this game just isn't the best gauge for anything. Peagler was assigned responsibility for one pressure allowed. (Beau Pribula's two sacks were deemed not to be the fault of anyone on the line.)

As his high grade suggests, this was Green's best game since moving out to left tackle. His 90.6 run-blocking grade was the third-best mark in the nation this week. Trost's 86.0 run-blocking grade was the fourth-best.Ìý

The Tigers ran to the left side 30 times and the right side 25 times. Mizzou picked up eight first downs by running between Green and Giudice, the most of any gap. MU rushers picked up just under 3 yards before contact, on average.Ìý

Quarterbacks

• Beau Pribula, 60 snaps, 60.1
• Matt Zollers, 24 snaps, 63.2
• Brett Brown, 4 snaps, 60.0

It's not like Pribula was bad against Louisiana — his metrics just came back to Earth as Missouri leaned into its ground game. An interception, his first with the Tigers, didn't help either.

Pribula leaned into shorter, quicker passes against the Ragin' Cajuns. His average depth of target (5.5 yards downfield) and average time to throw (2.32 seconds) were both the shortest yet.Ìý

Pribula threw 10-plus yards downfield seven times and completed only one of those passes.

He was blitzed on exactly half of his dropbacks and performed worse against the blitz — in part because he took sacks from unblocked blitzers on two of those. He did get the ball out quicker with more pressure coming, but that led to a play like his interception where he seemed to force a pass instead of move on to another read.

The Tigers hardly used play-action at all with Pribula in the game, faking a handoff on just five of his 26 dropbacks. No need to get fancy when handing it off for real is working so well.

Zollers, who threw the ball twice, did not throw a pass past the line of scrimmage.

Running backs

• Ahmad Hardy, 30 snaps, 92.7
• Jamal Roberts, 30 snaps, 68.3
• Marquise Davis, 24 snaps, 72.1
• Brendon Haygood, 4 snaps, 57.6

Wide receivers/tight ends

• TE Brett Norfleet, 46 snaps, 47.8
• WR Marquis Johnson, 44 snaps, 58.0
• WR Joshua Manning, 40 snaps, 60.4
• Slot WR Kevin Coleman Jr., 4 snaps, 83.5
• TE Jordon Harris, 31 snaps, 67.4
• WR Xavier Loyd, 23 snaps, 56.4
• TE Jude James, 22 snaps, 45.0
• Slot WR Daniel Blood, 20 snaps, 56.6
• WR Logan Muckey, 20 snaps, 69.5
• WR Donovan Olugbode, 17 snaps, 54.8
• WR DaMarion Fowlkes, 14 snaps, 59.8
• TE Vince Brown II, 14 snaps, 51.8
• WR James Madison II, 13 snaps, 59.4
• WR Shaun Terry II, 10 snaps, 75.4
• TE Gavin Hoffman, 4 snaps, 59.6

Not as much to note here given the prolific day on the ground. Norfleet continuing to pace this group in snaps is an encouraging sign for his health and availability.Ìý

Coleman continues to be the clear top target for Pribula, particularly when short passes are in the game plan. Coleman was targeted just 0.4 yards — so, a foot and change — downfield on average.Ìý

Defensive line

• DE Damon Wilson II, 20 snaps, 90.9
• DE Zion Young, 20 snaps, 77.6
• DT Chris McClellan, 17 snaps, 76.2
• DE Darris Smith, 13 snaps, 33.0
• DT Marquis Gracial, 11 snaps, 56.6
• DE Langden Kitchen, 10 snaps, 61.4
• DT Elias Williams, 10 snaps, 65.1
• DT Sterling Webb, 10 snaps, 60.6
• DT Jalen Marshall, 9 snaps, 52.2
• DE Daeden Hopkins, 7 snaps, 68.8
• DE Javion Hilson, 7 snaps, 63.2
• DT Jason Dowell, 7 snaps, 59.9
• DT Bralen Henderson, 6 snaps, 63.4
• DE Nate Johnson, 4 snaps, 68.0
• DT Sam Williams, 1 snap, 68.9

Wilson earned high marks for picking up another sack, one of his two quarterback pressures on the day. McClellan also notched a pressure.

It's not immediately clear why PFF graded Smith in the basement. He didn't miss a tackle, which can be the cause of a grade like that, and was never called into coverage. The algorithm ain't always right.

It's tough to make any more out of an afternoon where some defensive line starters, like Gracial, played only 11 snaps. That wouldn't be outlandish for a whole drive in a normal game, but in this blowout, that was the game.

Linebackers

• Josiah Trotter, 18 snaps, 77.9
• Khalil Jacobs, 13 snaps, 82.3
• Nicholas Rodriguez, 12 snaps, 61.8
• Triston Newson, 11 snaps, 62.4
• Jeremiah Beasley, 10 snaps, 65.0
• Dante McClellan, 7 snaps, 66.8

Jacobs was quite effective as a pass rusher. He pressured the quarterback on both of his blitzes and came away with one sack.Ìý

Rodriguez was the only MU player blamed for missing a tackle.Ìý

Trotter continued to pop up all over the field, including the backfield for a couple of tackles for losses.

Defensive backs

• CB Stephen Hall, 26 snaps, 64.3
• CB Drey Norwood, 24 snaps, 90.6
• S Jalen Catalon, 23 snaps, 62.0
• S Santana Banner, 20 snaps, 68.2
• S Marvin Burks Jr., 19 snaps, 62.4
• STAR Daylan Carnell, 18 snaps, 65.0
• CB Toriano Pride Jr., 16 snaps, 65.0
• S Caleb Flagg, 13 snaps, 64.1
• Trajen Greco, 12 snaps, 47.2
• S Mose Phillips III, 10 snaps, 65.2
• CB Cameron Keys, 7 snaps, 60.9
• CB Nick Deloach Jr., 7 snaps, 61.8

Louisiana passed for 4 yards.ÌýFour.ÌýThe last time a Mizzou opponent was held to that little through the air was 1976. So the defensive backs should get a lot of credit.Ìý

Norwood was stellar in coverage. He was targeted five times, broke up two passes and on the only catch he allowed, he tackled the Louisiana receiver for a loss.

There still seems to be heavy rotation between Norwood, Pride and Hall at corner, but this isn't the game to be able to parse out that hierarchy.

Missouri’s defense didn’t give up much to Louisiana in the 23rd-ranked Tigers’ 52-10 win — but especially in the air. The Ragin’ Cajuns, trailing for almost the entire game, did throw the ball. Fourteen times, to be exact.

Daniel Beale completed one pass for 5 yards. Backup and wildcat option Lunch Winfield completed one for minus-1 yard.

So Louisiana’s combined tally of passing yards? Four. F-O-U-R. The kind of box-score stat that better befits the days of yore.

Saturday becoming a day of four makes it one for the record books — and a wild dive into Mizzou’s history with single-digit passing games.

The last time the Tigers held an opponent to single-digit passing yards was in 1991, when Iowa State completed just one of its five passes, finishing with 6 passing yards.

And the last time MU held an opponent to 4 or fewer passing yards? Nov. 20, 1976, when the Kansas Jayhawks finished with 2.

Here’s what’s remarkable, though: Prior to Saturday, Missouri had lost the previous five games in which it had held opponents to single-digit passing yards.

Iowa State, with its 6 passing yards, beat Mizzou in ’91, 23-22. Oklahoma threw for only 8 yards in 1988, yet won 16-7. When KU managed only 2 yards through the air in 1976, the Jayhawks still won 24-22.

That 1976 season, with Al Onofrio in charge, actually saw four games in which MU opponents threw for single digits.

The week before that ground-based affair with Kansas, Oklahoma hadn’t thrown a single pass while still steamrolling the Tigers 41-14. Two weeks earlier, Oklahoma State needed only 8 passing yards to win 24-14.

Those were the last five single-digit passing games from Mizzou opponents, all defeats for the black and gold.

The Tigers’ most recent win against a single-digit passing team was a month earlier in 1976, when Missouri beat Ohio State 28-21 on the road. The Buckeyes completed one of their eight passes, finishing with 9 yards.

“They stopped our offense cold in the second half,� legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes said after that game. “We didn’t deserve to win. Missouri did.�

The novelty of that win, to Mizzou, was not so much the defensive coverage but the play of Pete Woods, who replaced starting quarterback Steve Pisarkiewicz to lead the Tigers to an unexpected victory in Columbus, Ohio.

“This has to be the greatest game a Missouri team ever played under the conditions that existed,� Onofrio proclaimed afterward.

It took the Tigers nearly 49 years to win another game under the very specific condition of an opponent throwing for less than 10 yards in a game.

Nobody’s proclaiming Saturday’s thumping of Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana as the greatest game in any sense, though. Tailback Ahmad Hardy put together a career-high 250 yards as MU’s ground game dominated, but that wasn’t especially unexpected.

Two factors seemed to help Mizzou keep the Ragin’ Cajuns from finding much through the air.

For one, Louisiana is without Walker Howard, the Louisiana State and Mississippi transfer who began the year as its starting quarterback. He suffered a serious oblique injury in a season-opening loss to Rice, so the Ragin’ Cajuns came to town as a team already far more likely to lean on the run than the pass.

Second, after struggling in zone coverage at times against Kansas last weekend, MU defensive coordinator Corey Batoon trusted his defensive backs to hold up in man coverage more often.

“If I’m going to be real: Obviously, their starting quarterback got dinged up, and he’s a really good player,� Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the game. “... We just felt like we needed to be very aggressive and relentless in our coverage. I don’t think we called much zone cover today. The first completion they had was zone and that was about it. We knew we wanted to take away windows.�

Novel and dominant as it was, holding a team to 4 passing yards isn’t especially repeatable for Missouri. South Carolina, headed to face the Tigers next weekend, has a star quarterback in LaNorris Sellers. Even in any other blowouts that may happen this season, the losing team still tends to land one or two passes of merit.

So don’t hold your breath for the next single-digit passing game from a Mizzou opponent. If history holds true, it’ll be a few decades.

Make no mistake. Nothing was “proven� by beating a lower-tier opponent into submission and continuing the beating well after the fight had been decided. No real significant statements were made.

However, it served as an indication of the mindset of the Tigers (3-0). They’re in a Big Boy conference with Big Boy programs. There’s a mentality that must come with that if you’re going to have high-level success.

That’s what the 52-10 at Faurot Field represented on a sweltering Saturday afternoon. The 250 rushing yards (187 in the first half) by Tigers running back Ahmad Hardy were gaudy.

The fact that Louisiana (1-1) mustered 121 total yards for the entire game just underscored that these programs operated in two very different worlds.

Was the public exhibition of bullying really necessary?

Yes. Because you could’ve made the case that Mizzou appeared poised for a letdown after an emotional win in an electric environment against a longtime rival last week.

Yes, it was necessary because the biggest test so far still awaits Mizzou next week when nationally-ranked SEC foe South Carolina comes to Columbia.

So, yes, it matters that Mizzou punched Louisiana in the mouth and was able to lean on its offensive line to impose its dominance from the start.

Mizzou ran the ball eight times in its initial 10-play drive. On one play during that opening possession, the offensive line opened a hole large enough to squeeze through a small Volkswagen. Hardy averaged a ridiculous 11.7 yards per carry in the first half.

And you can chalk all that up as the offensive line answering the bell.

“I think we improved from last week,� center Connor Tollison said. “That’s really the goal we’ve been trying to do every week, just get a little better and better. I think we did better today in communication. There’ll still be some things to clean up. I know we had a few tackles for loss, but we’ll get better.�

That unit has been where a lot of the question marks landed this season, dating back to fall camp when they shifted a potential All-American left guard, Cayden Green, to left tackle. Since the games started, the group has had some real ups and downs in winning performances.

In his comments during the week leading up to the game, Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz pointed to Louisiana’s defensive line as a strength. Drinkwitz also mentioned the pressure Mizzou allowed and the “inability to gain short yardage in critical situations� last week against Kansas.

It didn’t take any reading between the lines to understand the implication. Drinkwitz challenged the offensive line to control the game in a way it hadn’t so far this season.

The Tigers gave up four sacks in last week’s rivalry tilt against Kansas, though they rallied from a 21-6 first-quarter deficit to earn the win in front of their home crowd. Even in the season-opening 61-6 rout of Central Arkansas, quarterback Beau Pribula faced pressure caused by miscommunication and missed assignments along the line of scrimmage.

This week leading up to the game, senior guard Dominick Giudice described the goal for the offensive line this week as “everyone has to have the same set of eyes.� That encompasses pre-snap communication, nonverbal communication and reacting to the defense in synchronicity.

It’s safe to assume their eyes collective lit up when they looked at the Louisiana defense on Saturday, and include tight ends Brett Norfleet and Jordon Harris in that group.

They mauled the Ragin’ Cajuns to the tune of 230 first-half rushing yards. The first offense played the first drive of the second half and bowed out after taking a 45-10 lead and having amassed 475 yards of total offense.

Hardy gave the offensive line a “shout out� in his postgame remarks and credited them for “setting the line of scrimmage� on the zone run plays.

Well, now South Carolina looms next weekend with a preseason first team all-conference selection edge rusher in Dylan Stewart. As a unit, South Carolina recorded 12 quarterback hurries and six sacks through its first two games (their third game was on Saturday night).

So the offensive line’s performance is as relevant as anything that took place on the field on Saturday.

Mizzou’s statistics and the level of domination won’t translate to next week’s game, but you’d like to think the attitude and determination to win at the point of attack can carry over every week regardless of the opponent.

Even though Louisiana didn’t pose a great threat or a big test for Mizzou, it did give the offensive line a chance to take a step forward as a group. In that regard, the game served its purpose perfectly.

It doesn’t guarantee that the performance will be stellar against South Carolina, but at least it shows Mizzou’s line has the mean streak in it that you’d expect.

“Discipline to dominate your opponent for four quarters,� Drinkwitz said of whether there’s something to take from the mentality his team showed on Saturday. “I think we’ve got guys who’ve played a lot of football. We’ve got a lot of playmakers. We’ve got to be willing to continue to lean into that. I think there’s a lot of confidence in our running game, and there should be a lot of confidence in our pass game.�

Mizzou ran for 427 yards, wearing down Louisiana in decidedly un-weary fashion.

Wearing anything to the game, which was moved up three hours to marginally mitigate the effects of 90-plus-degree weather, was to sweat through it. The temperature of the Faurot Field turf was too high for an analog thermometer that went up to 120 degrees to read before the game. By the end of the game, the turf measured at 176 degrees.

Yet the most noteworthy three-figure number of them all? MU tailback Ahmad Hardy’s 250 rushing yards.

It was both a career high for Hardy, the 5-foot-10, 212-pound running back in his second season of college football, and the seventh-most rushing yards in a single game in Missouri history. Hardy’s tally came in only about 2 ½ quarter of work, too — the Tigers pulled their offensive starters with about eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

Hardy also scored three touchdowns to make himself the clear headliner.

“I think he hit every hole the way you want to,� Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

Hardy’s first score was a 7-yarder via a pitch on the opening drive of the game. His second was a 71-yard breakaway, and his third was another one scored from 7 yards away.

To most, Saturday’s nonconference meeting looked ripe for a bloodbath. Louisiana may have won 10 games and played for the Sun Belt championship last season, but it was down its starting quarterback and struggling to throw the ball this season. (The Ragin’ Cajuns managed a meager 4 yards through the air. Not a typo: It really was single-digit passing.) MU, meanwhile, is readying for Southeastern Conference play with No. 11 South Carolina headed its way next week.

To Hardy, however, Saturday was ripe for revenge. He’d lost to Louisiana last year when he was leading the Sun Belt in rushing with Louisiana-Monroe, a 37-23 defeat for the Warhawks to close the 2024 regular season.

“Last season, they beat us by 14 points,� Hardy said. “I was telling the guys, this was a little personal, so I wanted to beat them. I wasn’t really focused on the yards.�

Still, the yards came, prolific and efficient as could be. Eight of Hardy’s 22 carries went for 10-plus yards. And he wasn’t the only effective piece of the MU backfield.

True freshman Marquise Davis, handling relief duty after the starters were pulled, used 20 rushes to pick up 113 yards and a touchdown.

Jamal Roberts ran the ball eight times for 46 yards and turned a check-down pass from quarterback Beau Pribula into a 39-yard receiving score.

“We were able to get our outside zone going,� Drinkwitz said, “which honestly, I wasn’t sure (about) just because they run that scheme too.�

Pribula’s performance was solid but lacked the luster of his first two games in a Mizzou uniform. He completed 15 of 22 passes with 174 yards and two passing touchdowns. On a draw play, he also scored a 14-yard touchdown.

He also threw his first interception with the Tigers.

Mildly deep in his own territory, Pribula tried to sling a low pass toward the left sideline. It was too low to clear Louisiana’s Cameron Whitfield, though, who tipped the ball to himself and picked it off.

“About time,� Drinkwitz said he told Pribula. “Let’s get it out of the way so people quit asking us about it. Move on. I mean, it was Cover 2. He probably should have moved on to (a different target), but he didn’t. The thing about Beau is when he makes a mistake, he owns it and moves on. That’s a part of growing.�

The Ragin’ Cajuns failed to punish him for the error, mostly because they couldn’t get anything going on offense. Despite taking over at the MU 22-yard line after the interception, they settled for a field goal.

Louisiana’s other seven points came on an 84-yard rushing touchdown for tailback Zylan Perry — a run that busted right through the middle of the Tigers’ defense.

Take that single play out of the equation and Louisiana would’ve had just 37 yards of offense. That counts as a dominant day from the Missouri defense.

“I wish you could take everything but one play, but we did give up a big play and that’s got to get taken off the tape,� Drinkwitz said.

That seems to be the predominant takeaway from Mizzou’s dominant day. There was a lot of very good, particularly on the ground. If this matchup against the Ragin’ Cajuns, sandwiched between season-defining showdowns with Kansas and South Carolina, was ever a trap game, that trap was deftly side-stepped.

The most glaring of flaws — and more will be uncovered in film sessions over the next couple of days, naturally — could be boiled down to two plays. Not too shabby.

“I really challenged our guys to demonstrate an elite edge, to demand it from themselves and others, and to be disciplined to dominate their opponent for four quarters,� Drinkwitz said. “Outside of two plays — the interception by Beau and then that long run — I felt like we really dominated that game.�