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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Save for an injury that decided Missouri’s quarterback competition early on, the Tigers’ 2025 season opener was a mostly smooth ride. Mizzou scored early and often, picking up touchdowns from seven different players en route to a 61-6 victory over Central Arkansas.

Here are five takeaways from MU’s first outing of the season, a blowout win against a Football Championship Subdivision program:

Injury derails QB battle plan

The biggest takeaway from this game was always going to be the Tigers’ quarterback battle — except the battle never took place because of an injury to Sam Horn.

Beau Pribula started the first half, as expected, with Horn to take over for the second. But Horn checked in to run the football on one first-half play, powering 6 yards upfield.

He stumbled after getting up and stayed down, with trainers helping him to the locker room as Horn as able to put no weight on his right leg. Horn was later spotted in a stadium tunnel on crutches with his entire right leg in a brace and was ruled out in the third quarter.

In another discouraging injury development, kicker Blake Craig went to the locker room in the third quarter after taking a hit on a kickoff. True freshman Robert Meyer took over placekicking duties.

Beau Pribula, playmaker

If there were any doubts about the arm strength of Pribula, mostly a runner at Penn State, his first throw put many of them to bed. Pribula found wideout Marquis Johnson over the top of the Central Arkansas defense on his first pass in an MU uniform, good for a 49-yard touchdown.

But it wasn’t just the deep ball. Pribula consistently turned to slot receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. for short yardage work and routinely picked out other receivers in the intermediate range.

His best drive of the day was a 99-yard, 3 1/2 minute possession just before halftime. Despite starting the drive with the ball as close to Mizzou’s own goal line as it could be, Pribula looked comfortable and crisp with getting the ball out quickly. On third and goal, he found tight end Brett Norfleet running wide open along the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

That tempo drive resembled one of Pribula’s better possessions in a fall camp scrimmage, when he led a touchdown drive in a similar situation.

To no real surprise, his rushing ability looked to be as advertised. He escaped from the rubble of the pocket and made a lineman miss before darting toward the pylon for a 31-yard rushing TD in the first half.

Pribula put together his arm and his legs on back-to-back plays in the third quarter, finding Johnson again on a deep ball for a 44-yard completion that came up just short of the goal line. The quarterback then ran in for a 1-yard score.

That was his last play of the game. Pribula finished 23 for 28 with 283 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, plus 65 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.

True freshman Matt Zollers, now in line to be the second-string quarterback, took over just before the end of the third quarter.

O-line imperfections

The debut of Mizzou’s new-look offensive line was not a stellar one. Pribula faced more pressure — and took more hits — than would be ideal. On a couple of first-half occasions, defensive linemen flew through the left side of Missouri’s line unblocked.

That left side underwent a change late in fall camp, with Cayden Green moving from left guard to left tackle and Dominick Giudice sliding over to left guard. Some of the whiffed blocks looked like possible miscommunications over who was supposed to pick up whom, which would make sense for a group still working on chemistry.

Penalties were also an issue for the offensive line. One holding call negated an explosive run from Jamal Roberts that would’ve helped MU on its escape from its own goal line. Later in that drive, a false start cost the Tigers 5 yards and a timeout. Neither hurdle was insurmountable, but that doesn’t make them optimal either.

Quiet, comfortable for defense

Gunning for its second consecutive shutout in a season opener, Missouri’s defense nearly got that job done. Among the highlights for a highly touted crop of newcomers to that side of the ball was defensive end Damon Wilson II, who recorded the first sack of the year.

With depth players in action for the fourth quarter, linebacker Jeremiah Beasley forced a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Cameron Keys. Linebacker Dante McClellan then returned an interception 83 yards for a pick six.

Capacity update

Thursday’s game took place in front of a backdrop that will become the norm at MU games this season: a half-dozen construction vehicles and plenty of exposed steel behind Faurot Field’s north end zone.

The elimination of the hill on that side of the stadium has reduced capacity to 57,321 this season — down from the usual 62,621 — according to the athletics department. The opener was the program’s 13th consecutive sellout.

Next up

Mizzou’s season-opening homestand continues with the most-anticipated game of the season: Archival Kansas visits for the resumption of the Border War at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 6. The Jayhawks handily beat Fresno State last weekend to open their season and face Wagner on Friday, which should put KU at 2-0 when it comes to Columbia.