Football Falls At No. 20/19 Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Massachusetts football dropped a 42-6 decision to No. 20/19 Missouri on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium (57,321).

AJ Hairston started at quarterback for the Minutemen and finished 11-for-31 for 75 yards and a touchdown, which was caught by Max Dowling. Grant Jordan went three-for-eight for 30 yards in the final quarter of play.

On the defensive side, Timmy Hinspeter had a career day, posting 17 tackles (five solo) to go along with his first career interception, a sack and two tackles for loss. Derrieon Craig added 11 tackles (four solo), including half a sack, while Rashad Henry and Tyler Martin each had eight tackles.

How It Happened
Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Timmy Hinspeter grabbed his first career interception and ran it back 63 yards to the Missouri 21-yard line. Pass interference against the Tigers in the end zone gave UMass a first and goal from the two-yard line and then AJ Hairston hit Max Dowling in the end zone, marking the tight end's first touchdown as a Minuteman. The score moved to 7-6 at 4:31 of the first after the extra point attempt was blocked.

Missouri pulled ahead, 14-6, with a five-yard rushing touchdown by Ahmad Hardy to cap an eight-play, 56-yard drive in the first.

The Tigers completed a 14-play, 89-yard drive at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter with a one-yard run by Hardy to make it a 21-6 game.

UMass forced Missouri to punt on a fourth-and-six, before ending the half with a sack from Shambre Jackson for a loss of 10 yards to run out the clock. The back-to-back stops kept it a 21-6 game at the half.

Missouri scored on their first drive of the second half with a 16-yard rush from Hardy to give Mizzou a 28-6 lead. The Tigers made it a 35-6 contest with a nine-yard pass from Beau Pribula to Brett Norfleet with 56 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Mizzou scored the lone touchdown of the fourth with a three-yard scamper up the middle by Tavorus Jones to bring the game to its final score of 42-6.

Notes

Jacquon Gibson, Rocko Griffin, Shymell Davis and Derrieon Craig served as the UMass game captains.
Timmy Hinspeter came away with his first career interception in the first quarter that began a UMass scoring drive.
Hinspeter went on to finish the game with 17 tackles (five solo) to set a career-high total. His previous career high was nine tackles versus Bryant earlier this season.
It marked the first time a Minuteman has had 15-plus total tackles since Jalen Mackie (19) in the 2022 season.
Max Dowling recorded his first touchdown as a Minuteman in the first quarter, and the eighth of his career.
David Onuoha posted the first sack of his career as he joined Timmy Hinspeter and Marques White.
It marked the second consecutive game with a sack for Hinspeter and third consecutive game with a sack for White.

Next Up
Massachusetts will return to McGuirk Alumni Stadium to open Mid-American Conference play against Western Michigan on Saturday, October 4. Kickoff for the Homecoming game is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+ (tickets).

Scoreboard

Next Event

Team Stats

AJ Hairston

Grant Jordan

Players Mentioned

Derrieon Craig

Shymell Davis

Max Dowling

Jacquon Gibson

Rocko Griffin

AJ Hairston

Rashad Henry

Timmy Hinspeter

Shambre Jackson

Grant Jordan

Tyler Martin

David Onuoha

Marques White

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics