Ahmad Hardy rushed for 157 yards and a touchdown to lead Missouri to a 31-17 Southeastern Conference win over Arkansas on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Beau Pribula threw for only 25 yards but rushed for 78 yards and a score. Jamal Roberts racked up 100 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Kevin Coleman Jr. had a 67-yard punt return touchdown. Chris McClellan had two sacks, and Oliver Robbins hit a 41-yard field goal for Missouri (8-4, 4-4 SEC).
KJ Jackson completed 11 of 17 passing attempts for 126 yards and a touchdown for Arkansas (2-10, 0-8). O’Mega Blake caught a touchdown pass, and Scott Starzyk made a 28-yard field goal. Bradley Shaw returned a fumble for a touchdown for the Razorbacks who closed their season on a 10-game losing streak.
The Tigers held a 322-61 advantage in rushing yards and threw only seven passes all game.
Missouri jumped out to an early 7-0 lead as Roberts punched it in from four yards out. The Tigers needed just three plays to cover 58 yards as Pribula reeled off a 49-yard run on Missouri’s first play from scrimmage.
Near the end of the first quarter, Jackson hit Blake with a 16-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7.
Early in the second quarter, Shaw scooped up a Pribula fumble and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown as the Arkansas defense gave the Razorbacks a 14-7 lead. But on the next drive, Pribula scrambled into the endzone from 11-yards out to tie the game 14-14 with 9:33 left in the second quarter.
Starzyk’s field goal gave the Razorbacks a 17-14 halftime lead.
On the Tigers’ first dive of the second half, Hardy broke through a wall of tacklers for a 53-yard touchdown, and Missouri took a 20-17 lead. A 12 play, 61-yard drive featured all running plays and led to a Robbins field goal as the Tigers took a 23-17 lead.
The Tigers got breathing room late in the fourth quarter on Coleman’s punt return and Roberts’s two-point conversion for a 31-17 advantage with 8:07 to play.
