COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Maty Mauk threw four touchdown passes, two each to Jimmie Hunt and Bud Sasser, and passed for 144 yards to lead No. 20 Missouri past Central Florida 38-10 on Saturday.
The Tigers (3-0) led 14-10 at halftime before pulling away from the Knights (0-2), who had won their past two games against ranked teams.
Quarterback Justin Holman threw for 209 yards and one touchdown in his first career start for Central Florida, which only had 134 yards in the second half. Missouri had five sacks and forced four turnovers in the final 30 minutes.
Mauk entered the day tied for first nationally with eight passing touchdowns, and said this week that he likes to think aggressively on the field, even though sometimes it can be to the Tigers' detriment.
That was the case early on, when the sophomore attempted to find Hunt in double coverage, but was intercepted by cornerback Jacoby Glenn, a freshman All-American last season.
Glenn returned his second interception of the season 31 yards to the Missouri 31-yard line with 2½ minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Five minutes later, Holman threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to running back William Stanback on fourth down to give the Knights a 10-7 lead.
Missouri's first deficit of the season only lasted one drive, though, as Mauk saw Hunt outpacing safety Drico Johnson and then threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to him in the end zone. Hunt finished with two receptions for 21 yards, and four of his past six catches have resulted in scores.
Central Florida remained within striking distance in the first half because of three third-and-long passes from Holman that extended the team's two scoring drives and another that resulted in a 47-yard missed field goal from Shawn Moffitt.
Holman earned his first career start after throwing for one touchdown and running for two more off the bench in the team's season-opening 26-24 loss to Penn State in Ireland. He looked unfazed in the first half, completing 10 of 13 passes for 97 yards and adding another 30 on the ground.
The sophomore struggled after the break because of pressure from Missouri defensive ends Markus Golden and Shane Ray.
Holman threw two interceptions, including one to Josh Augusta with 3:41 left in the third quarter after the nose guard batted the ball at the line of scrimmage and then jumped to corral it. The play extended the Tigers' nation-best takeaway streak to 47 games.
Sasser scored four plays later on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Mauk to extend Missouri's lead to 21-10. The Tigers then pounced for 17 unanswered points in the final quarter.