Simmons throws 4 TD passes in Missouri's 54-14 rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Austin Simmons went 17 of 19 for 4 touchdowns in a debut that barely lasted a half, and Eli Drinkwitz still found plenty to be mad about in a 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Simmons throws 4 TDs before halftime, and Drinkwitz calls him 'the story'
Austin Simmons made his long-awaited first start count: the Ole Miss transfer went 17 of 19 for 252 yards and 4 touchdowns before Drinkwitz pulled him in the second quarter, per Field Level Media. He strung together 8 straight completions before his lone incompletion of the night, hit Shaun Terry II for a 25-yard score to open his account as a Tiger, found Donovan Olugbode twice — Olugbode finished with 8 catches for 116 yards — and connected with fellow Ole Miss transfer Cayden Lee for a third. No. 25 Missouri had the game decided before the third quarter started, and it showed in a 54-14 final.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff54-14It's the payoff for exactly the discipline Drinkwitz spent camp installing. "We don't need to be out here just willy-nilly trying to put balls in tight windows and potentially throwing interceptions," the coach had said heading into the opener, and Simmons obliged with zero interceptions against his 4 touchdowns. Afterward on SEC Network, Drinkwitz didn't bother spreading the credit around: "The story is him," he said of his new starter.
The rest of the night was messier than the scoreboard let on. Drinkwitz was blunt that he was "very disappointed in the third quarter from an overall intensity standpoint, a coaching standpoint," flagging special-teams penalties and calling stretches of the offense "embarrassing" even as the lead ballooned — proof that a 40-point win over an FCS opponent still left him plenty to coach on before Kansas.
With Hardy still out, it was Zollers and Hatfield who broke through
Pete Nakos reported Wednesday that Ahmad Hardy "continues to progress back from his gunshot wound and won't be available tonight," and Drinkwitz confirmed left tackle Cayden Green would sit out too — the full detail is in Ahmad Hardy, Cayden Green Both Out For Missouri's Opener. Backup Jamal Roberts, who ran for 753 yards and 6 touchdowns a year ago, was ticketed for the early-down work, and Jack Lange, the 6-foot-8 sophomore Drinkwitz had praised all camp, made his first real start in Green's place.
The names that actually lit up Missouri's own feed were further down the depth chart. Matt Zollers scored his first career rushing touchdown, then came back and did it again for good measure — "That's six for No. 5," the account posted the second time — and Preston Hatfield, a Kansas City native, punched in his own first career touchdown. With Hardy and Green both unavailable, it was the kind of night that proved Missouri's depth chart runs deeper than one running back and one left tackle.
A walk-on lineman just earned his scholarship in front of the team
Buried between the countdown graphics and gear posts, Missouri's own account put up the kind of clip that actually stops a scroll: "Earned it. @domgiudice56," tagging offensive lineman Dominick Giudice with a video the day before fall camp wrapped. It has all the shape of a scholarship reveal — the two-word caption, the tag, the media — for a 6-foot-4, 312-pound senior who has been grinding in the trenches for a program that just spent camp obsessing over red-zone push.
It is exactly the kind of moment that never shows up in a box score or an injury table, and it is also the best thing Missouri's own feed put out all week. No scholarship count or roster move confirms it beyond the post itself, but that has always been the point of days like this one — a lineman who has been at Missouri long enough to know what "earned it" means, getting told so on camera in front of everybody.
Next test: a Friday night in Lawrence for Simmons's first road start
Missouri, ranked No. 25, plays on September 11 at Kansas, at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, with the line opened at Missouri -6.5 and the total set at 52.5. Kansas is 0-0 to open its own season, and its most recent result on the books is a 21-31 loss to Utah last season.
It's a fair follow-up test for a debut like Thursday's: every one of Simmons's touchdowns came at home against an FCS opponent, and Lawrence will be the first time all season Missouri's offense has to find that same rhythm on the road.