The Missouri Tigers managed to bounce back in Week 12 with a 49-27 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. By no means was it a perfect outing, but to get back in the win column and do so in blowout fashion was beyond important.

After losing an ugly one to Texas A&M the week before and having their season-long goal of making the College Football Playoff squashed, they delivered the perfect response. The offense was clicking, star running back Ahmad Hardy had his best game of the season and Missouri forced three turnovers.

Now, sitting 7-3 on the season, the Tigers can walk confidently into the rest of the season.

Here’s a look into Missouri’s win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs and why it was a perfect one to turn the page after a rough Week 11.

Play of the game: It may not have been a complete game-changer of a play, but Toriano Pride Jr’s interception that bounced off Daylan Carnell, who did most of the dirty work in coverage, was absolutely an energizer for the rest of the game.

Funnily enough, this was Pride’s second wacky return of the game. Pride was all over the place and took advantage of multiple opportunities when they came his way.

In all seriousness, Pride’s touchdown flipped the script of the game. Mississippi State still had slivers of momentum and though Missouri had just scored the possession before, the Bulldogs were still rolling. Pride’s pick-six, in many ways, ended the game.

Stat of the game: How can this title not go to Hardy’s 300-yard performance? This was one of the best rushing performances in the history of the Southeastern Conference and was one of the main reasons the Tigers found the offensive success that they did.

It seems like it’s been a while since Hardy had an explosive, high-impact day like he did against the Bulldogs. In fact, this is only his second performance over 100 yards since the Tigers’ win over UMass. In all honesty, this was likely a welcome outing for the Tigers, the fans and Hardy himself.

Missouri’s offensive line had arguably its best game of the season against Mississippi State. The fact that the Tigers posted 326 rushing yards and that Missouri’s freshman quarterback was only sacked twice should be a perfect indicator of that.

For the most part, Matt Zollers had a good chunk of time to make his decisions. He only made 15 passes, so not much was asked of him in that department, but he made good decisions throwing the ball and the offensive line gave him time to do so.

The offensive line also gave Hardy the time and space to do what he did. That’s not to say that he wasn’t making these plays for himself, because he was, but some of that does stem from the blocks his offensive front was creating.

“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, once the holes started,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said following the win. They were playing quite a bit of man-to-man, which prevents overlap in the defense and I think his speed really surprised them.”

This might not be what Missouri fans want to hear, but a good chunk of the penalty issues against the Tigers, mainly in the first half, were very much valid. There should be absolutely zero debate about the two targeting calls that were dished out, along with the unnecessary roughness call on safety Santana Banner for some extracurriculars and a facemask on Stephen Hall for doing exactly that.

One or two may have been questionable, but in general, Missouri was making a lot of sloppy mistakes. At least in the first half, when seven of the 11 penalties occurred, Drinkwitz’s team may have been playing slightly too emotionally.

“I think senior nights always get a little bit emotional,” Drinkwitz said. “So, we were out of character and out of context there for a little bit. I’ve never seen so many first downs given to a team through penalties.”

In the long run, Missouri’s 11 total penalties that went for 74 yards weren’t the end of the world. That might not be the case against an Oklahoma squad that recently vaulted into the AP Top 25 and happens to be Missouri’s Week 13 opponent.

With all of that being said, Missouri did catch a bad break or two. Zollers’ two intentional grounding penalties were a little shaky, especially the second time around, when he was being hit and targeting his tight end, Brett Norfleet. He was making the throwing motion toward Norfleet, but didn’t get the chance to get it there.

It might be easy to brush past some of the intricacies that Missouri’s defense struggled with against the Bulldogs, given they scored two defensive touchdowns and forced three total turnovers. But, in a similar fashion to other games this year, the Tigers struggled with tackling angles and wrapping up.

Not having Josiah Trotter in the middle of the field surely made a difference there, but a decent chunk of these issues were in the secondary.

Take Brenen Thompson’s 54-yard catch and run in the first quarter. Thompson holds onto exceptional speed and is a tough player to bring down, but that shouldn’t excuse three separate Tiger defenders missing him when they had the chance to.

Seeing some of Missouri’s veterans miss tackles this late in the season is going to sting and could hurt the team later on. Tackling angles have been a subtle issue all season and it looks like issues are still coming up in that area, especially from the Tigers’ defensive backs.

Darris Smith quietly had one of the best days of any Tiger on the defensive side of the ball, finishing with four tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. In many ways, Smith was the best pass rusher for the Tigers. At the same time, he lined up at different locations beyond the edge.

There were a few snaps where Smith lined up at off-ball linebacker, which is not a first-time occasion. This time around, however, they happened to be more effective.

A perfect example of Smith being all over the place was on the drive that occurred right before Missouri’s unique muffed field goal return. Smith recorded two tackles for loss and was a menace in the run game in terms of filling gaps, disallowing Mississippi State from taking advantage of some momentum thanks to penalties.

Smith has been a steady contributor for the Tigers this season and saw increased time against the Bulldogs with Langden Kitchen out and Nate Johnson being ejected from the game early due to a targeting penalty. A game like that one will only earn him more opportunities as the season progresses.

It’s not an over-exaggeration to say that Norfleet is Missouri’s most valued blocker when it comes to opening up holes in the running game. On the front side of multiple Missouri zone runs, whether it was Hardy or Jamal Roberts, Norfleet was a primary helper in opening those gaps.

Hardy still managed to rush for over 100 yards in Week 11 against the Aggies, but this was different. The outside zone was clicking all night and, with the help of his offensive line, tight ends and receivers, the holes were there. Norfleet’s size and willingness to be all over the field to make these blocks were so apparent and clearly made a difference.

Even when Norfleet isn’t making his mark as a receiver, he’s still one of the most important players on the team. When he was out in the ladder stages of Missouri’s loss to Vanderbilt and the entirety of Week 11 against Texas A&M, his blocking presence was missed.

Norfleet’s showing in that department against Mississippi State only proved that further. The Tigers need Norfleet as healthy as possible moving forward.

Connor Weselman punted the football only three times against the Bulldogs, with an average of 39 yards per punt. Two of those went for 47 and 48 yards, but one went for only 22. The Tigers obviously don’t want Weselman on the field all that much, meaning the offense wouldn’t be doing their job, but finding some consistency in whatever number of times he does punt needs to come around.

His 22-yard punt in the third quarter was simply bad. It spun back 16 yards and placed Mississippi State a few yards away from midfield. Against a team with a more explosive offense and better pass protection, that could’ve, and probably would, lead to points.

Weselman’s other two were solid, but not being able to string three good ones together is an issue. Two weeks ago, against the Texas A&M Aggies, the same issues rose. This might not be the biggest of Missouri’s concerns at the moment, but Weselman’s punts have negatively affected Missouri and could continue to do so in the future.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri’s win over Mississippi State hinged on a few explosive, and at time, ridiculous plays.

The Tigers scored on two pick sixes, benefitted from a 60-yard return on a botched snap on a field goal while Ahmad Hardy did something no Missouri player has done in the 21st century.

Here’s three takeaways from the victory for the Tigers.

If Ahmad Hardy only took carries on plays where he scored touchdowns, he still would’ve rushed for 125 yards on three carries. On touchdown carries of 72 and 43, Hardy was virtually untouched past the line of scrimmage.

In total, Hardy rushed for 300 yards on 25 carries, the second-most yards for any Missouri player in a single game.

READ: How Ahmad Hardy Almost Scored ‘Too Quick’ for the Mizzou Defense

To little fault of his own, this didn’t end up as the Heisman-worthy season for Hardy that it looked like it could be after the first four games of the season. But this performance was a deserved feather in the cap for Hardy, plus a peek into just how far his dominance could reach next season.

On top of Hardy, the rest of Missouri’s offense was able to find explosive plays at a higher rate than it has all season long.

Running back Jamal Roberts also had rushes of 19 and 21. Quarterback Matt Zollers also completed touchdown passes of 26, 34, along with a completion of 17 yards.

The runs were due to an impressive job from Missouri’s offensive line on blocking on the outside zone.

“I thought the O-line and tight ends obviously prevented penetration, allowed him to get to the second level,” Drinkwitz said of Hardy’s big runs.

The touchdown pass of 26 yards was arguably the best pass Zollers has made all season, connecting with true freshman Donovan Olugbode for the first points of the game.

Missouri seemed to have an over-reliance on hoping the deep pass game would get going against Texas A&M, with Zollers attempting eight passes of 20 or more yards.

Against Mississippi State, the Tigers instead connected on those deep passes more often on fewer attempts, while leaning much more on the run game.

The play distribution between the two teams in the first half was incredibly odd. Mississippi State ran 40 plays compared to 20 for Missouri. Mississippi State held the ball for 19:16 compared to 10:44 for Missouri.

Despite this, the Tigers outgained the Bulldogs with 232 total yards compared to 134 and held a 21-10 lead at halftime.

The disparity in plays was mostly due to penalties on the Missouri defense — the unit was called for six penalties for 44 yards. All six of those resulted in automatic first downs, extending drives for the Bulldogs. Two of those were targeting calls, leading to linebacker Josiah Trotter and edge rusher Nate Johnson being ejected from the game.

The penalties weren’t the best look for the Missouri defense, though several of the calls were questionable.

But the fact that Mississippi State was still held to the low output in the half is a huge credit to the Missouri defense. 

On one drive in the second quarter, Mississippi State ran seven plays inside Missouri’s 10-yard line thanks to a targeting and facemask call on the Tigers. But Missouri’s defense held them to zero points, with the snap on a field goal attempt bouncing off the holder’s knee and being returned 60 yards by Toriano Pride Jr. 

The first half was a weird half of football. The job the Missouri defense did to stand through the chaos was impressive.