COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Beau Pribula staked his claim to Missouri Tigers’s starting quarterback job with a four-touchdown performance as the Tigers rolled to a 61-6 season-opening thrashing of Central Arkansas Bears Thursday night.

“I knew he prepared well in fall camp,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I tried to tell everybody that we had two quarterbacks that can win football games, and I fully expected that to be the case. I thought he played, honestly, pretty well.”

Pribula, a transfer portal addition from Penn State, finished 23-of-28 passing for 283 yards and two touchdowns. He notched another 65 yards and two scores on the ground. The Tigers put up 560 yards of offense in the victory.

“You know it’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long time, just an opportunity like this,“ said Pribula, who was making his first collegiate start after three seasons with the Nittany Lions. “I was just extremely excited. A little jittery in the hotel, but once I got to the stadium, I was really excited just to get out here and play with these guys.”

Missouri opened the scoring on their third offensive play of the game, a 49-yard-deep ball from Pribula to Marquis Johnson, who led the team with 134 yards receiving. Running back Ahmad Hardy, the 2024 Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year transfer from Louisiana Monroe, rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown.

It was an emotional night for Johnson, who was playing his first game since his mother Denise Bell died in April at age 39. Thursday night, he wore a strip of eye black with the message “LOVE U MOM” across his left cheek.

“Seeing my people there, and not seeing her, just really broke me down,” Johnson said. “And just, it just stung right there, and that’s when it really all hit me.”

Missouri took a 26-0 lead at the half after embarking on a 15-play, 99-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard touchdown pass from Pribula to tight end Brett Norfleet.

“I think that’s good anytime you can get a 99-yard touchdown drive,” Pribula said. “It kind of takes the life out of the opponent. To do it in a 2-minute drive it’s even better. That’s just a testament to prepping for that. We practice situations like that all the time. It wasn’t really anything new today.”

Central Arkansas tallied 229 yards of offense, with Luther Richesson 12-of-22 passing for 70 yards. Landen Chambers chipped in 63 yards rushing.

Missouri planned for Pribula to share playing time with redshirt junior Sam Horn, but Horn suffered a knee injury on his first snap of the game. Pribula led a second 99-yard drive on seven plays midway through the third quarter, extending the lead to 40-0 before handing the reins to true freshman Matt Zollers. Zollers finished 3-of-3 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown.

Tigers linebacker Dante McClellan returned an interception for 83 yards with 2:48 remaining to play to end the scoring.

“I think there’s still some things that we got to do a little bit better,” Drinkwitz said. “I didn’t think we were physical enough on the perimeter. We were giving up too many first-down yards on first-down runs. But really proud of the takeaways in the second half.”

Injury for Horn

Horn’s right knee buckled while he rose from the turf after a 6-yard run on a quarterback draw. He later appeared on the Tigers’ sideline with crutches and a brace on his knee.

The Takeaway

Penalties proved the only blemish on the night for Missouri. The Tigers were flagged eight times for 70 yards, yielding two first downs via penalties.

Up Next

Central Arkansas plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff in its home opener next Saturday.

Missouri renews its rivalry with Kansas at home next Saturday, the first meeting between the historic foes since 2011.

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