“I hit 400 in high school,” running back Ahmad Hardy said in Saturday’s post-game.
A dominating performance was nothing new for the Mizzou star.
In just his tenth game as a Missouri Tiger, Hardy climbed
the ranks of the Missouri greats. Over 25 carries, the running back collected 300 yards in the resounding defeat of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
With his 300 yards, he moved to second all-time for most rushing yards in a game, just 20 yards shy of the top spot which was claimed by Devin West in 1998.
He also currently sits in 5th place for most rushing yards in a single season, reaching 1,346 yards with his performance today. Hardy only needs 281 more yards over the next three games to break Cody Schrader’s record set in 2023 for the top spot.
Hardy was also just 22 yards shy of reaching an SEC record of most yards in a single game. The record of 321 yards was set by Vanderbilt’s Frank Mordecai in 1978 (Arkansas’ Darren McFadden tied it in 2007).
The running back becomes just the sixth player in SEC history to reach 300 yards.
Hailing from Mississippi, Hardy later admitted that this game was personal.
“This game means a lot to him,” added Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz. “He’s a Mississippi young man, wasn’t recruited by that school, and so it was really important, and meant a lot to him.”
Hardy was quick to prove that the Bulldogs made a mistake not pushing for their home-grown man as Mississippi State had to watch the sophomore run the ball into the endzone three different times.
“I’m from Mississippi,” said Hardy. “You know, a lot of teams didn’t recruit me coming out of high school, so it was kind of personal. But then again, like I told the guys, the seniors, I was doing it for them. I got number nine on my forearm …. I played for Zion Young and the rest of the seniors, so I really just give it to them.”
What the star did was not only incredibly impressive, but also was pure brilliance.
Reaching a personal-best of 21 miles per hour on a 72-yard touchdown run, it seemed as if nothing was going to stop him. In fact, his teammates wished he slowed the pace of the game down more.
“Lowkey was in my head, like man, I hope he goes down,” said Marvin Burks Jr. “I knew he wasn’t going down man. Go get them 300 yards.”
Chris McClellan also said, “Sometimes I’ll just be like, Ahmad, slow down, man.”
However, both athletes were quick to add how important of an asset he is to this Tiger team. Matt Zollers even referred to him as a safety blanket, because it “feels like 99% of the time [Hardy] is going to get a positive gain.”
The running back was explosive right out the gate, driving down the field for 34 yards on the second Mizzou play of the game. Without his speed, the Tigers wouldn’t have scored on their opening drive after a brilliant throw by Zollers to Donovan Olugbode.
“I just tried to run by guys,” said Hardy. “I didn’t try to, like, run them over and things like that. Tried to use my speed and worked out pretty good.”
The next Mizzou drive? Hardy collected 30 yards before Zollers found Joshua Manning for another score.
In the second quarter, #29 finally ran into the endzone himself to collect his first touchdown of the night. Hardy’s next score came on a drive that only lasted 28 seconds thanks to his speed. Spotting a gap in the middle of the field, he juked around the defense to blast 72 yards all the way to the house.
At the time, Hardy didn’t even realize the numbers he was racking up.
“I didn’t even know I had 225,” said Hardy. “I was like, well, I gotta try to get to 250 and then they say, you know, it was 300.”
In one of the quickest drives of the night, Hardy found the endzone for the final time of the night in just one play. Mississippi State turned the ball over on downs on their own 43-yard line. Ahmad Hardy just saw a challenge and immediately accepted it. With one handoff, the Tiger lead was padded and they were running away with it.
After the game, McClellan said his reaction to what Hardy has done this season mirrors Mizzou’s faithful.
“Wow, this guy’s incredible,” said McClellan.
Something that every college football fan across the country cannot even argue.
Hardy also had nothing but high praise for his O-Line as well as his teammates that supported him to such a historic night.
The running back was still laughing postgame, adding that he will be taking his offensive line back out to dinner next week as well.
Hardy will look to add to the record books next weekend as Mizzou takes on Oklahoma.
