Hardy rushes for career-best 300 yards, 3 TD to help Missouri beat Mississippi State 49-24

Ahmad Hardy had a career-best 300 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns connected 25 carries, and Toriano Pride Jr. had a 62-yard fumble instrumentality and a pick-6 to assistance Missouri bushed Mississippi State 49-27

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Ahmad Hardy had a career-best 300 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns connected 25 carries, and Toriano Pride Jr. had a 62-yard fumble instrumentality and pick-6 to assistance Missouri bushed Mississippi State 49-27 connected Saturday night.

Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) freshman Matt Zollers, making his 2nd vocation start, was 8-of-15 passing for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns and threw an interception successful his archetypal vocation win.

Blake Shapen completed 19 of 33 passes for 199 yards, threw a brace of interceptions and added a brace of rushing touchdowns for Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6), which needs a triumph implicit Mississippi connected Nov. 29 to go vessel eligible for the archetypal clip since 2022.

Hardy raced into the extremity portion from 43 yards retired with 11:11 remaining successful the 4th fourth to shatter his erstwhile career-high of 250 rushing yards and springiness him his 3rd vocation 3 touchdown game.

Pride returned an interception 19 yards for a touchdown to springiness Missouri its largest pb of the nighttime astatine 35-17 with 4:39 to play successful the 3rd quarter.

That play came a small much than a infinitesimal aft Hardy, who scored connected a 10-yard tally precocious successful the archetypal half, raced to the extremity portion from 72 yards out.

Trevion Williams stripped the shot from Hardy, and Malick Sylla recovered it adjacent midfield with astir a infinitesimal into the 3rd quarter. Ten plays, Shapen scored his 2nd rushing touchdown of the crippled from 3 yards retired to chopped Missouri’s pb to 21-17.

Mississippi State reached the Missouri 2 connected a 16-play drive, but Ethan Myers’ debased drawback connected a 25-yard field-goal effort ricocheted disconnected holder Marlon Hauck’s near knee. Pride recovered the fumble and returned it 62 yards to the Bulldogs’ 23 gait enactment with 5:03 remaining successful the 2nd quarter.

Tigers antiaircraft extremity Nate Johnson was ejected for targeting with 8:56 remaining successful the archetypal 4th aft delivering a helmet-to-helmet deed connected Shapen, and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was ejected for the aforesaid discourtesy with 8:52 remaining successful the 2nd quarter.

Mississippi State: Dominated clip of possession against a Missouri squad that entered play 4th successful the federation and archetypal successful the SEC successful clip of possession averaging 33:34. However, turnovers proved fatal for the Bulldogs arsenic some of Shapen’s interceptions were returned for touchdowns, and Missouri scored connected the ensuing thrust aft Pride’s fumble return.

Missouri: Dominated the turnover conflict and the moving crippled to gain its 23rd consecutive triumph against an unranked hostile since falling to Wake Forest successful the 2022 Gasparilla Bowl.

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs big No. 6 Ole Miss connected Nov. 29 successful the Egg Bowl marking the 122nd gathering betwixt the in-state rivals.

Missouri: The Tigers play Saturday astatine No. 11 Oklahoma.

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