In the chaos-filled Memorial Stadium, Missouri improved to 7-3 after its win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs last night. However, things could have very easily gone wrong for Eli Drinkwitz’s side if their defense hadn’t been able to find some game-sealing plays throughout. They committed a season-high number of penalties in the game at 11 for more than 70 yards. But Drinkwitz feels not all the calls were exactly ideal.

HC Drinkwitz brought attention to the questionable calls while talking to the media. “Obviously, the intentional grounding calls weren’t great for us, which I think forced us out of field-goal range if I’m remembering right,” he said. In addition to committing six defensive penalties in the first half, defensive end Nate Johnson and linebacker Josiah Trotter were ejected from the game for targeting.

Drinkwitz didn’t hesitate to admit that there were some slip-ups here and there on their part as well. “We were out of character and out of context there for a little bit,” he claimed, but added that emotions might have factored in due to it being a senior night game. However, he praised the team’s fighting spirit as they snatched a 49-27 win. “I’ve never seen so many first downs given to a team through penalties. But our ability to stay in the fight. We forced them to 0-3 on fourth down conversions, scored two touchdowns.”

Ahmad Hardy led the charge for Mizzou with his playmaking skills. Hardy tore through the defense for 300 yards and three touchdowns on just 25 carries and slammed the door shut on Mississippi’s chances with such a dominant performance.

Eli Drinkwitz heaps praise on Ahmad Hardy after heroic performance

Ahmad Hardy brought back memories of Devin West’s 319-yard classic against Kansas in 1998, as he became the second in Missouri’s history to get past that 300 mark. With 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of the game, he flew past his career-high record of 250 rushing yards and also racked up three touchdowns in a game for the third time in his career.

Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz also thinks Hardy had a career-defining game and explained how he was invincible amid challenges. “I thought the o-line and tight ends obviously prevented penetration, allowed him to get to the second level, but then he did the rest,” he said. “Once the holes started, they were playing quite a bit of man-to-man, which prevents overlapping the defense, and I think his speed really surprised them.”

For Hardy, it meant much more as he had some answers to give. “I’m from Mississippi. A lot of teams didn’t recruit me coming out of high school, so it was kind of personal. But then, again, like I told the guys, the seniors, I was doing it for them,” said the 19-year-old. It sure looks like this team would continue to rely heavily on the running back as they take on Oklahoma next week.