On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the Mount Everest summit. On Dec. 27, 2025, sophomore running back Ahmad Hardy reached a mountain top of his own — the Mizzou football single-season rushing record.
The record didn’t come without a scare. Hardy sat just four yards away from holding the top spot at halftime, but didn’t see another carry until there were four minutes and 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The record-breaking run came on his first run of the second half for 12 yards, passing now No. 2 Cody Schrader’s previous record of 1,627 yards.
Hardy finished with 15 carries for 89 yards and had a season total of 256 carries for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Tigers could not ride Hardy’s historic day to head coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s third straight bowl game win, losing to the Virginia Cavaliers 13-7 in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
“It’s on me,” Drinkwitz said postgame. “I didn’t do a good enough job calling plays tonight, getting us into a rhythm or giving us things that we could do and execute quick enough.”
For the eighth time this season, Mizzou took its first offensive drive for a touchdown. Helped by a 43 yard rush from Hardy, the offense took seven plays for 74 yards in three minutes to take a 7-0 lead. Redshirt sophomore running back Jamal Roberts capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
True freshman quarterback Matt Zollers got the start with graduate quarterback Beau Pribula entering the transfer portal. Zollers surpassed Pribula’s completions, attempts and passing yards from the Arkansas game in the first half alone, going 5-for-9 for 37 yards.
The Tigers fell behind in the second half and decided to throw the ball more, which led to little success. Zollers completed 12 of 22 passes for 101 yards and an interception in the game.
Five of his completions and 10 of his targets went to fellow true freshman Donovan Olugbode, solidifying their connection this season.
From a defensive standpoint, there were definitely holes, but the Tigers managed to keep the Cavaliers to three points in the first half.
Virginia’s offense received the ball to begin the second half and went 19 plays for 75 yards in 10:07 for a touchdown and a 10-7 lead.
The main issue was third down defense, which was surprising since Mizzou posted the 20th best third down defense in Division l coming into the game. Virginia went 8-for-12 on third downs in the opening half. It combined five key down conversions on the opening drive of the second half alone.
With redshirt sophomore starting linebacker Josiah Trotter out with a knee injury, sophomore Nicholas Rodriguez received the start and showed out. He totaled a career-high 15 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and the team’s lone pass breakup.
Mizzou’s five second drives ended in an interception, back-to-back punts and back-to-back turnovers on downs, respectively. Even so, Zollers had a chance on the final drive of the game to be the hero.
He drove the offense 61 yards down the field in 10 plays in under a minute and 30 seconds, but an injury forced him out of the game, and redshirt junior Brett Brown went under center for their final play of the game. He found junior wide receiver Daniel Blood in the end zone, but he could not corral the catch, sealing the loss.
“In my freshman year I think when we played in the Armed Forces Bowl and we lost, and it was like a real step for like the program forward,” graduate center Connor Tollison said postgame. “I hope these guys in the locker room can use that same thing, like look at this and take that next step.”
The Tigers’ focus will shift to the offseason and the transfer portal, which officially opens Jan. 2, and players can enter until Jan. 16. A plethora of talent will need to be replaced as the nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule approaches.
