Pair of Tigers named SEC Players of the Week

Saturday's win over Mississippi State was one that the Tigers needed in a big way. They played start-to-finish without letting up at all, and showed an SEC Conference foe what Missouri football is all about.

In the end, they defended their home field, with a 49-27 victory, sending the Bulldogs home, and securing a top-25 ranked spot, after not appearing on the list, following back-to-back losses versus SEC squads.

Though head coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his team has made it clear they don't care for accolades, it's nice to see players awarded for their performances, especially in a much needed win. It's especially nice to see a player on offense and defense get the nod, specifically in a conference as loaded as the SEC.

The offensive award was a no-doubter; running back Ahmad Hardy, who has had a historic season for the Tigers.

On 25 carries Saturday night, Hardy broke 300 yards, and got in the endzone three times as well. He's just six yards away from breaking his season-high in rushing yards.

Hardy is also around 300 yards away from standing alone in the SEC, in terms of rushing yards in a season, across the last ten years. The sophomore would need to surpass Mizzou legend Cody Schrader's 1,627 yard season in 2023.

In total, the Tigers put up 438 yards of offense - Hardy made up for well over half of it. The Mississippi native was clearly playing with a chip on his shoulder, as he now leads the SEC in rushing yards by over 200 yards, and has a slight lead on the country in terms of rushing yardage as well.

Even though the team just wants to win, it wouldn't hurt to see his name appear in a Heisman ballot.

On the other side of the ball, true senior Toriano Pride Jr., who has had several ups and downs in his two seasons since transferring from Clemson, got the nod for the honor.

The St. Louis native recorded three tackles, a fumble recovery, and a game-changing 20-yard interception return for a touchdown, his second in his Tiger career.

This was more than likely his best game since coming home to Missouri, and, with all of the secondary issues throughout the season thus far, hopefully this propels him to some consistency as the campaign concludes.

Hardy and Pride were well deserving of the awards, combining for four of the Tigers six touchdowns in the game.

Overall, big wins come with big awards - proven heavily by the result this week. The Tigers got the conference win, moved up in all polls, and took home some individual awards.

Hopefully, Drinkwitz and the rest of the squad use this as fuel to finish the season on a high note, as they travel into Norman to take on the No. 8 overall Sooners next Saturday morning - a much tougher contest than the one preceding.