Postgame Analysis of Mizzou's Win Over South Carolina

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers picked up an impressive 29-20 homefield victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, improving to 4-0 on the season while starting play in the Southeastern Conference with a bang.

A large part of that success should be attributed to running back Ahmad Hardy, who added another 138 rushing yards and a touchdown to his continuously accumulating stat line of the season. His ability to break tackles was very impressive and there wasn't much the Gamecock defense could do to stop him.

The Missouri offense as a whole did a good job of throwing different looks at the South Carolina defense, which ended up being too much to handle.

The defensive side of the ball also performed well. Constant pressure was put on star South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, despite his throwing for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

"I thought Corey [Batoon] did an excellent job," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said following the win. "We had five sacks, held them to minus nine yards rushing. So really, really proud of those guys."

Linebacker Josiah Trotter led the team with 11 tackles, but a plethora of players helped with the backfield pressure that led to the five sacks. Linebackers Khalil Jacobs and Nicholas Rodriguez, defensive ends Zion Young and Damon Wilson and interior linemen Chris McClellan and Sterling Webb all recorded a sack in some manner.

In general, the Tigers had to fall back on their depth on multiple occasions. The left tackle position was a great example of that, with Jayven Richardson being inserted into the starting lineup due to the injury of Cayden Green. Missouri's depth showed up in big ways, including Richardson.

"Ultimately, we're trying to be a team of teams," Drinkwitz said. "Everybody on this team has a role, and their job is to continue to be as good a player as they can be and develop and when their opportunity calls go in there and embrace the role."

South Carolina had chances to win the game, mainly on offense, but could not convert. Even if the Tiger defense struggled at moments, primarily in the secondary, they managed to come up clutch when it mattered the most.

"Really proud of our team. That was a heck of a battle tonight," Drinkwitz said. "I thought coach Beamer really had his team prepared. You can tell they were ticked off at last week's performance, and came in and fought."