Mizzou opens 2025 with 61-6 rout of Central Arkansas

It would be hard to start the season on a much better note than the Missouri Tigers did Thursday.

Take out the two injuries and it would have been just about perfect.

The Tigers scored on all but two drives, one a third-quarter punt after the backups filled the field and the other to end the game on a kneel. They came away with seven touchdowns, including six on seven drives once they got rolling.

All building to a 61-6 win against the Central Arkansas Bears to open the 2025 season.

And they got the performance fans needed to have confidence in Beau Pribula as the starting quarterback going into next week.

“I was pleased, I knew he prepared well,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “Through fall camp, I tried to tell everybody that we had two quarterbacks who could win football games. And I fully expected that to be the case. I thought he played, honestly, pretty well.”

The Tiger defense came out and forced a quick punt, allowing just seven yards. Then Pribula and the offense got to work.

The Tigers started on their own 36 and gave the ball to Jamal Roberts twice on runs up the middle. On third-and-4, Pribula showed his legs for the first time, turning a quarterback draw into a 9-yard run for first down.

Then Pribula showed his arm, firing a deep pass over the middle of the field perfectly placed to Marquis Johnson for a 49-yard touchdown. 

It was Pribula’s first pass as a Tiger and Johnson’s first touchdown of the season.

“I probably envisioned that a couple times before this game,” Pribula said. “Really just imagining it … it’s easy when Marquis Johnson is running the route. He’s pretty fast.”

Settling for field goals

The Tigers went for two and didn’t get it, leaving Missouri up 6-0 with 10:58 left in the first quarter.

After a Central Arkansas drive that involved a fourth-down conversion, but ended in another punt, the Tigers got to work once again.

This time, Missouri started on its own 18 and drove 50 yards, setting up a 49-yard Blake Craig field goal.

After the kick, the Tigers led 9-0 with 2:22 left in the first.

Missouri’s defense forced another three-and-out and would start its next drive on its own 27.

Fifteen plays and 35 yards later, Craig knocked a 55-yarder through to put the Tigers up 12-0 with 9:33 left before halftime. The drive was highlighted by Pribula converting a keeper on fourth-and-2 to keep the drive alive.

“I thought his ability to extend plays, … his ability to pull the ball, his read stuff was nice,” Drinkwitz said. “But I mean, he threw the ball really well, too.”

Back to the touchdowns

The Tigers forced another three-and-out from the Tiger defense, one of six defensive series the Tigers ended in four plays or less.

“I thought it was a little bit leaky,” Drinkwitz said of the Tiger defense. “Honestly, in the first half, I wasn’t like, I didn’t feel like we were dominating. Until I got into halftime and realized they were 0-for-6 on third down and I thought maybe my expectations were a little too high.”

After the stop, Kevin Coleman lined up to return the punt.

And for the first time, he had space to operate.

On his first punt return, Coleman was blown up at the catch, leading to a kick-catch interference penalty. Then the second Central Arkansas punt went out of bounds and the third was just a 6-yard return from Coleman.

But this time, he caught the kick at the 23 with room to move. He cut up the middle, then moved toward the visitor sideline as he turned in a 44-yard return to set up the Tigers on the Bears’ 33.

It took just two plays for Pribula to make some magic.

He scrambled in the backfield as the Tiger offensive line, which had struggled throughout the first half, fell apart around him. He looked downfield, but found nothing. So he ran toward the line of scrimmage, pump faked to get a defender away from him and burst 31 yards for a rushing touchdown that put the Tigers up 19-0 with 6:48 left before halftime.

“The coverage was pretty good downfield and, you know, just kind of danced around the pocket a little bit trying to find an outlet,” Pribula said. “But, you know, they did a good job, like I said, in coverage and the field kind of split open. Had to get a little pump fake to get by, I think it was No. 8, the one defender, and after that, just run for a touchdown.”

Two-minute drill

The Tigers got the ball back one more time after a pooch punt was downed at the Missouri 1. And with just 3:38 left in the first half, the Tiger offense got to work.

Roberts had a 31-yard rush called back for holding, then the Tigers faced third-and-2 from the 9 and Pribula kept it for an 11-yard run.

Then he really got moving. Pribula connected with Joshua Manning for 12 yards, then found him again for 13 more on a great catch from the junior receiver. He went right back to Manning for 17 more yards, then found Brett Norfleet over the middle for 8 more yards to get to the Central Arkansas 30.

Roberts ran for a first down. Then, after a false start pushed Missouri back to the 35, Pribula found Johnson for a 13-yard completion before going right back to him for 17 more.

It took three more plays after two runs were stuffed, but on third-and-1, Pribula connected with Norfleet running across the back of the end zone for a 1-yard score.

The touchdown came with 8 seconds left on the clock and the Tigers took a 26-0 lead into halftime.

Sam Horn

The plan going into the game was supposedly redshirt junior Sam Horn would take over at quarterback for the second half.

But he came on the field for one play on the second drive and kept a jet read option up the middle. Horn ran hard, but right into a defender who hit him in the knee.

The quarterback who had waited so long to return from Tommy John surgery to fix his Ulnar Collateral Ligament in his throwing elbow was on the field for just one play before needing to leave the game for good. He was seen later in a full leg cast and will get an MRI Friday to evaluate the extent of his injury.

“Very disappointed and sad with the injury to Sam,” Drinkwitz said. “… We’ll see tomorrow what the extent of those injuries are.”

Second half

So instead of Horn taking over after the break, Pribula returned and lead a scoring drive that started at the Tiger 15.

After Pribula kept a 6-yard run, new Tiger running back Ahmad Hardy found some space for the first time.

He broke open on a pitch sweep to the left for a 44-yard gain. Then ran up the middle for 9 more yards. He added 2 more before Pribula found Coleman for 15 yards to set up first-and-goal from the 4.

On the next play, Hardy went to the right and scored the first touchdown of his Tiger career to put Mizzou up 33-0 with 11:23 left.

“I thought (offensive coordinator) Kirby (Moore) did a really nice job handling that and giving him some explosive plays,” Drinkwitz said.

The starters came out for one more series as Pribula completed passes of 11 yards to Johnson and Manning to go with a 23-yard run by Hardy. That run put Hardy at 100 yards on the dot on just 10 carries. He had gone into halftime with 18 yards.

After the run put the Tigers at the Central Arkansas 45, Pribula hit Johnson with a second deep pass. This one was a little under thrown for 44 yards to set up first-and-goal at the 1.

Then Pribula kept a read option to the outside on the left.

He ran all alone into the end zone for his fourth total touchdown.

“This is something I’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Pribula said. “Just an opportunity like this. And I was just extremely excited.”

Backup kicker Robert Meyer kicked the extra point as starting kicker Craig was helped to the locker room after taking a hit on the previous kickoff.

The extent of his injury will also be determined by an MRI on Friday.

The backups

Then came the Tiger backups.

After the first Mizzou punt of the day, freshman quarterback Matt Zollers led his first touchdown drive. He connected with freshman receiver Donovan Olugbode for 9 yards, then freshman running back Marquise Davis ran for 5.

With the Tigers at the Bears’ 40, Zollers found redshirt freshman tight end Jude James in the flat and James did the rest of the work. He ran in a 40-yard touchdown behind a great downfield block from Daniel Blood.

The Tigers got the ball back when Jeremiah Beasley forced a fumble that Cameron Keys recovered to start Mizzou at the Central Arkansas 14.

It took four players for Davis to run in his first career touchdown, a 3-yard tote with 7:32 left to play.

The scores put Missouri up 54-0.

The final scores

Mizzou’s final touchdown came when freshman linebacker Dante McClellan ended a long Bear drive when he jumped in front of a pass over the middle for an interception.

Then he made the most of it, running it back for an 83-yard touchdown.

“It’s crazy, before that, he literally called it out,” defensive end Damon Wilson said. “He said, ‘I’m gonna make a play, I’m gonna get a pick.’ I didn’t think it was gonna be a pick-6.”

Central Arkansas finally got on the board with a long drive to end the game as Luther Richesson completed a pass to Manny Smith with 21 seconds left to end the game.

Stats

Passing

• Pribula completed 23-of-28 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns.
• Zollers went 3-for-3 for 58 yards and a score.

Rushing

• Hardy ended with 10 rushes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
• Pribula rushed 10 times for 65 yards and two scores.
• Roberts ran eight times for 33 yards.
• Davis carried the ball five times for 10 yards and a touchdown.
• Tavorus Jones had three carries for 7 yards.
• Horn ran one time for 6 yards.

Receiving

• Coleman had six catches for 48 yards.
• Johnson had five catches for 134 yards (career high) and a touchdown.
• Manning had four catches for 53 yards.
• Olugbode caught four passes for 37 yards.
• Norfleet had three catches for 9 yards and a touchdown.
• James had one catch for 40 yards and a score.
• Roberts caught one pass for 8 yards.
• Jordon Harris caught one pass for 7 yards.
• Jones had one catch for 5 yards.

As a team

• 341 passing yards
• 219 rushing yards

Up next

Missouri (1-0) moves on from its FCS season opener to one of the most-important games of the season. The Tigers bring Kansas to town for a 2:30 p.m. game next Saturday.

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