COLUMBIA, Mo. - In front of Denver Broncos general manager John Elway and senior personnel advisor Gary Kubiak, as well as Dallas Cowboys owner and Arkansas graduate Jerry Jones, Drew Lock and the Missouri Tigers put a 38-0 beatdown on the Razorbacks on Friday afternoon on Senior Day at Faurot Field to cap off an 8-4 regular season.
It was the program's first shutout of a conference opponent since Missouri beat Iowa State 14-0 in Ames in 2010. It's the 12th time the program has reached eight wins, and the first time Arkansas has ever had a 10-loss season.
The Razorbacks looked like a 2-10 team that finished winless in conference play under a first-year head coach. The Razorbacks were held to fewer than 200 yards of offense for the first time since 2012, and made just four trips across midfield.
The Tigers (8-4, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) scored on their first drive of the game, and after two punts, scored twice off of Arkansas turnovers. Terez Hall's first career interception, in the final home game for the senior, set up a six-play, 35-yard scoring drive to start the second quarter. On the second play of the Razorbacks' next drive, quarterback Ty Storey was strip sacked by Jordan Elliott and Akial Byers recovered the loose ball for a touchdown.
The final result was never in doubt after that. The Tigers led 28-0 at halftime and didn't need to score in the fourth quarter.
"The defensive performance was as solid as we've had," Missouri coach Barry Odom said. "It was good to see them do that."
Missouri's defense pitched a shutout, had five sacks, forced two Arkansas turnovers and held fast on fourth down by forcing three turnovers on downs, one at the Tigers' 4-yard line. The Razorbacks, a program known in the past for a physical, bruising ground game, had minus-21 rushing yards at halftime, the lowest total of any FBS team in a half this season.
The Tigers were the better team in all aspects of the game, and a touched punt Arkansas recovered was Missouri's only turnover of the day. Missouri's average field position was its own 40, compared to the 24 for the Razorbacks, and started three drives in Arkansas territory. The Tigers had a 3-yard advantage in yards per play average and had 181 rushing yards to Arkansas' 52.
Chad Morris pulled Ty Storey in the second quarter for true freshman Connor Noland. Storey finished 4-for-7 for 24 yards and an interception, while Noland was 5-for-17 for 98 yards. The Razorbacks' leading receiver was running back Devwah Whaley, who had two catches for 61 yards, one of which was a 43-yard screen. For most of the game, Missouri had more passes defended or intercepted, seven, than Arkansas had completed passes.
The team's seniors stepped up in their final home game. Drew Lock completed 16-of-25 passes for 221 yards and two scores, and ran for two more touchdowns, Terez Hall had a sack and an interception and Emanuel Hall had six catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
Hall's second touchdown of the game was a 67-yard score in which he did most of the work after the catch weaving through the Arkansas secondary with that speed that has made him one of the nation's best deep threats.
"I haven't had a YAC (yards after catch) touchdown like that in my career, for 60-plus yards or whatever it was, so it was a really exciting play for me," Hall said after the game.
The Tigers also had strong performances from younger players on the team. Redshirt sophomore Elliott had his breakout game with three sacks, tying the most sacks Missouri had in a game this season and the best individual performance since Marcell Frazier had three against Arkansas in 2016.
"It's a long time coming for him," Lock said of Elliott. "That man's a freak, and him, Terry, Walt, Rashad, all those guys being in there, that's helped this defense out a lot. Those guys have played their butts off. Jordan Elliott, speaking about him, you can tell his work ethic in practice. There's not one play where I think I'll get away taking a lazy little three-step drop because Jordan's going to take the play off. He's going to bust his butt every time and I know that helped our guards get better, helped our tackles get better, helped our centers get better all year."
And without Damarea Crockett for a third straight time against the school from his home state, sophomore Larry Rountree broke the 1,000-yard mark for the season by 12 yards.
He's the third back in the last three years to do so for Missouri following Crockett and Ish Witter. Rountree finished with 119 yards on 29 carries.
"Literally, the O-line coach, coach (Brad) Davis, was like, 'If you don't get that 1,000, don't say nothing to me after this game,'" Rountree said. "So I just thank (the offensive line), they all helped out, and it starts off with the five O-linemen."
Missouri now turns its attention to the bowl process. Selections will be made Dec. 2, and the Tigers' berth will be impacted by how many SEC teams make New Years Six bowls and the College Football Playoff. Missouri will most likely play Dec. 31, in either the Outback (Big 10 opponent), Gator (ACC or Big Ten) or Liberty Bowl (Big 12).