I don’t mean to blasphemy this close to Christmas, but there was something about Ahmad Hardy’s best run of the season that was more than a little Christ-like.In John 2 of the Christian Bible, Jesus attends a wedding where after a long amount of time, the wine begins to run out. Jesus, mensch that he is, takes a healthy amount of water (bland, hydrating) and turns it into what someone ends up calling the best wine yet (delicious, dehydrating.) Jesus saved the best for last. Just like Ahmad Hardy.If you watched this game, which I assume you did, I think you know exactly what run I’m talking about. So let’s not dilly-dally any longer and get right our penultimate Disrespectful Play Index of the seasonAs a reminder, here’s our grading scale:Category 1: How difficult/impressive was the play? (0-20)Category 2: How hard did the opposition try? (0-20)Category 3: How much did his teammates help? (0-5)Category 4: What did the player do immediately afterward? (0-20)Category 5: How did everyone not involved react? (0-15)Category 6: Is there a backstory/context to consider? (0-20)Category 1: How difficult/impressive was the play?Not to bleed too much into Category 3 right off the top, but Hardy doesn’t get nearly the same amount of help that he usually would in situations like this. Mizzou’s offensive line is flawed, but it’s generally been quite good at giving Hardy and Jamal Roberts room to exploit. In this instance, however, Hardy makes it just back to the line of scrimmage before meeting the first Arkansas defender.What makes this maybe Hardy’s best run of the year, however, is the amount of defenders swarm him and how they come from every direction. Hardy is covered up on all four sides in this next shot, with the added disadvantage of having one of his own players also in the mix.If you tally up the amount of Arkansas players that get their hands on Hardy in this play, it’s at least 5… maybe 6 is you’re feeling generous. Regardless of their effort (more on that next), that’s an impressive display of strength, body awareness and, most obviously, effort. 20/20Category 2: How hard did the opposition try?We’ve got two different elements to contend with here. First, Arkansas’ defense, poor as it may be, did well to meet Hardy at the line of scrimmage here. Was the tackling technique good? I don’t think I have to answer that. But there’s no doubt the effort level was much higher than their counterparts in black and gold, as three defenders have their hands all over Hardy one yard beyond the line of scrimmage.It’s hard to blame Arkansas too much for what happens after the run because, if you ask me, this is the sort of play that sums up Arkansas’ season – a lot of effort betrayed by a lack of foundational soundness and, ultimately, a deflating defeat. As Hardy breaks free of the pack, a handful of Arkansas secondary members half-heartedly pursue. But if you watch the actual clip above, you can see they’re in third gear.So how do we balance this? Do we penalize them for a lack of effort at the back end of the play? Maybe if it were earlier in the season. But this is a Razorback team devoid of pride. I’m more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt for outworking Mizzou’s line at the beginning of the play. As an added bonus, it jacks up the DPI score and makes it funnier to say, “you tried, you just weren’t good enough.” 18/20Category 3: How much did his teammates help?Ahmad Hardy doesn’t get met at the line of scrimmage much. But he did on this play, making his individual effort that much more impressive. I’m sure he wouldn’t hate more help next time around, though. 5/5Category 4: What did the player do immediately afterward?One unique thing I enjoy about the Mizzou-Arkansas rivalry is how invested Mizzou fans have become. But not because of any historical animosity for Arkansas or its program. For the way that Arkansas gleefully joined in the, “Mizzou doesn’t belong in the SEC,” party with the rest of the conference, yet has been a convenient punching bag for the Tigers since 2012. You’d think a program with such little significance would be a little more humble and welcoming. But no… just a lot of smugness and no relevance for the last two decades.I’m not sure Ahmad Hardy is that tapped into the feelings of Mizzou fans, but it certainly felt like it when he gave Razorback fans the evil eye after his touchdown run.This is the equivalent of that moment in The Dark Knight Rises when Bane breaks Batman’s back and then leaves him in a prison to suffer and watch the downfall of Gotham on a crappy little TV. Doing this to a real rival like kU or Oklahoma would probably be more cathartic. Doing it to a 2-9 pseudo-rival? That’s diabolical.The point. It’s too much. A little less Christlike than the run itself, but hey, I’m not pretending he’s perfect. Please kick them while they’re down, Ahmad. 20/20Category 5: How did everyone not involved react?Not much to report here, though I did find this screencap of the highlight package interesting.Notice how everyone outside of the scrum is standing straight up, accepting that the play is effectively over. He’s not in frame here, but Beau Pribula is already looking to the sideline for more instruction. Obviously this isn’t reflective of their reaction to the play, but I think it’s worth noting how unexpected Hardy’s run was to everyone on the field. Even his teammates who have been watching him do this all season. 14/15Category 6: Is there a backstory/context to consider?Ahmad Hardy might be having the best season a running back has ever had at Mizzou. To pull this out in the final game when not much is on the line apart from the Shelter Insurance Battle Line trophy? That’s pure spite right there. But hey, maybe the trophy is cooler than we give it credit for! 19/20This might be our high score in DPI history! For putting a devastating finishing move on Arkansas at the end of one of their worst seasons of all time, Ahmad Hardy’s run was 94 percent disrespectful to… yeah, I think you can say it’s to the entire state of Arkansas. That’s a lot of collateral damage!