MU makes most of mistakes by Eastern Illinois

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- It took Josh Hibbets just a few plays to make a huge impact for Missouri.

Hibbets, a redshirt freshman and third-string free safety, blocked two punts and ran one in for a touchdown in the Tigers' 37-0 victory Saturday over error-prone Eastern Illinois.

"I worked so hard in the offseason, and in two-a-days," Hibbets said. "This makes it all worthwhile."

Coach Gary Pinkel said Hibbets, who switched from quarterback to safety in spring practice, thus far has gotten caught in a numbers game in the secondary.

"It's nice to see him make some plays," Pinkel said. "We saw him do some things in the first and second games on the kicking game and we said we've got to get him more involved."

Zack Abron ran for two touchdowns and Brad Smith threw two touchdown passes for Missouri, which is 3-0 for the first time since 1981. The Tigers shrugged off a slow start against the against the 19th-ranked team in Division I-AA, outgaining the losers 509-212 in total yards.

"We opened it up and let it go," wide receiver Thomson Omboga said. "We spread the glory around."

It was the first shutout for Missouri since a 38-0 victory over Bowling Green in 1998. The Tigers have allowed a total of 22 points their first three games, their best start in 30 years.

"We played a complete game," defensive back Dedrick Harrington said. "We're sitting pretty good right now."

Eastern Illinois (1-1) is the fourth Division I-AA school to play at Missouri since 1998, and the Tigers have won all four of the games by a combined score of 163-40.

In Saturday's first half, Eastern Illinois lost three fumbles, had a punt blocked and botched a field goal attempt with a bad hold.

"As I just told our guys, Western Kentucky started out 2-3 last year and went on to win a national championship," coach Bob Spoo said. "That's our goal."

Two of those mistakes helped Missouri break a scoreless tie at the end of the half.

Jason Simpson recovered Andre Raymond's fumble at the Eastern Illinois 36 to set up Abron's 5-yard run with 1:41 to go and Sean Coffey caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Smith with 17 seconds left in the half. The latter play was set up when Hibbets got a piece of Tom Schofield's punt to give Missouri possession at the Eastern 27 with just under a minute to go.

Hibbets blocked another punt late in the third quarter and ran it in himself from 14 yards to give Missouri a 27-0 lead.

"We practice so much scooping and scoring that I just scooped and scored," Hibbets said. "It was a great feeling."

Abron had 91 yards on 16 carries and has 33 career touchdowns, passing Bob Steuber (1940-42) for second on the school career list. He scored untouched on a 25-yard carry, his longest run of the year, on 4th-and-1 earlier in the third as Missouri began to pick up steam.

Smith showed no effects from a concussion sustained last week at Ball State, going 26-for-33 for 236 yards.

He added an 11-yard touchdown pass to Omboga, who caught seven passes for 71 yards, early in the fourth quarter.

Pinkel said Smith was not under orders to limit his running. Last year Smith became the second quarterback in NCAA history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a season.

"We were just trying to become better as a team and use him in different ways," Pinkel said. "It's going to be a game-by-game thing.

"I want to be a good team throwing and running without him."

Andy Vincent was 23-for-36 for 154 yards and an interception for Eastern Illinois, which had last week off after beating California, Pa., 27-0 in its opener. Andre Raymond, who had 110 yards rushing in the opener, was held to 26 yards on nine carries.

"I was kind of disappointed with the way he ran, to be honest with you," Spoo said. "You know, sometimes a back has to make it on his own."

At halftime, Missouri retired the No. 27 jersey worn by Brock Olivo, the school's career rushing leader with 3,026 yards.