No. 23 Missouri football hosted South Carolina with the goal of retaking the Mayor’s Cup after losing to the Gamecocks 30-34 at Williams-Brice Stadium in 2024. South Carolina entered the game looking to get back on track after a brutal 31-7 home defeat at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Tigers’ game plan was once again designed around their running game. Running back Ahmad Hardy continued his workhorse carry rate, an unsurprising feature of the offense after the sophomore ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns last week against the University of Louisiana. Hardy ran for 138 yards and one touchdown, while quarterback Beau Pribula was the Tigers’ secret weapon on the ground, running for 72 yards of his own.
Pribula was solid through the air during the first half. He led a 99-yard touchdown drive to get the Tigers on the board, a nine-play possession highlighted by a 25-yard dart down the right sideline to tight end Brett Norfleet and an eight-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Joshua Manning. Kicker Blake Craig’s unfortunate absence reared its head again, as fellow kicker Robert Meyer couldn’t convert the extra point and kept the score at 6-0.
On defense, a timely sack from linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez and backfield pressure by linebacker Josiah Trotter left South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers looking uncomfortable in the pocket. At one point in the first quarter, edge rusher Darris Smith’s pressure was the only thing that kept Sellers from connecting with his wide-open wide receiver Mazeo Bennett Jr. for a 44-yard touchdown.
However, it’s difficult to keep a quarterback like Sellers down for long. He bounced back with a 49-yard touchdown pass to Vandrevius Jacobs, giving South Carolina the lead, 7-6. The big play broadly exhibited Missouri’s defensive issues in the first half: an effective pass rush without an equally effective performance in the secondary.
The Tigers struggled with capitalizing on lapses by the Gamecocks. Their first offensive play after South Carolina was forced to punt on 4th and 29 resulted in an interception, as Pribula’s attempt to fit a ball into double coverage went poorly. The Gamecocks turned this mistake into a touchdown on the other end. When Missouri could not score from the 4-yard line, they had to settle for a field goal to go into halftime at a 14-12 deficit.
The Tigers’ struggles in the latter stages of the first half could largely be explained by not utilizing Hardy enough. In the second half, they went back to calling his number often. On their second drive, he put together a 38-yard rush to get Missouri into South Carolina territory, bouncing off tacklers as per his trademark style. He finished off the drive with a ridiculous touchdown run, where he kept his feet and contorted his body into the end zone for an 18-17 lead.
Missouri’s secondary struggles persisted, as they gave up a 33-yard pass on 3rd and 37 to allow the Gamecocks back into field goal range. South Carolina took a 20-18 lead off the leg of William Joyce, and as Mr. Brightside blared over the speakers, the Tigers were once again charged to make a comeback.
And come back they did. Pribula and Hardy led the way down the field on a drive that started at their own 25-yard line, and running back Jamal Roberts cut through the defense for a 16-yard rushing touchdown to cap off the drive. Pribula ran it in for the two-point conversion, and the lead was back with Missouri, 26-20. This placed the pressure squarely on Sellers and the Gamecocks as the clock ran under 10 minutes.
The moment proved too large for the Gamecocks, with the Missouri defense holding back its rival on both of its fourth-quarter drives. The Tigers escaped Faurot Field with a 29-20 win.
While any win is a good win in the Southeastern Conference, there will be plenty to review in the film room for the Tigers — especially among the defensive backs. Missouri allowed eight passing plays of over 15 yards, a trend that is not sustainable against higher-powered offenses. However, they controlled the rushing splits on both ends, putting up 285 rushing yards of their own while keeping the Gamecocks to -9 yards.
The Tigers will return to Faurot Field to face the Massachusetts Minutemen at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Edited by Colin Simmons l [email protected]
Copy edited by Emma Harper | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]
