Mizzou defense sees ‘small things’ to correct after West Virginia loss

It’s understandable, but the assumption that Missouri’s defense would pick up where it left off last season always was a logical fallacy.

The line of thinking seemed sound — the Tigers had a great defense in 2015 and with defensive coordinator Barry Odom promoted to head coach, not much should change.

Obviously, it didn’t work that way during a season-opening 26-11 loss Saturday at West Virginia, a game in which Mizzou allowed 494 total yards and six scoring drives of at least 60 yards.

“We didn’t do our assignment the way we practiced, and it showed up on game day,” defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross said. “There’s no other way to look at it — 500 yards and not a lot of consistent play.”

It’s possible the Tigers still finish with a top-10 defense this season, but it won’t be the result of a carryover effect from 2015, when Mizzou ranked in the top six nationally in scoring defense, total defense and passing defense.

“There’s not a word that I use in this year’s defense that was used in last year’s defense,” senior linebacker Michael Scherer said. “There’s really not a similar play. It’s completely different.”

During the spring and through fall camp, Odom repeatedly said he trusted his coordinators, Cross and Josh Heupel on offense, and wouldn’t micromanage either side of the ball.

The Tigers deployed new pass-coverage schemes, including using the strong-side linebacker in a hybrid safety role with the responsibilities of a nickel back.

The run defense also is different with the corners no longer acting as force players on the edge in the run game and a shift back to the gap-control style Mizzou fans grew familiar with under former defensive coordinator Dave Steckel.

“It’s a different team,” Cross said. “I assured the guys when I got here, just because you were great last year doesn’t mean you’ll be great this year if you don’t work at it. If you don’t commit to it and if you don’t buy in, it will show. That showed a little bit, to be honest with you, but I think our kids are settling back in and (Tuesday’s practice) was a good start.”

Missouri played a more aggressive style last season, roaring off the line at the snap, but has transitioned to a scheme more dependent on reading keys and having all 11 defenders react together.

Misreads led to missed assignments and missed tackles against the Mountaineers, leaving the Tigers in chase mode on the field and scoreboard for much of opening game of the Odom era.

“There were a lot of mistakes you could say, guys not doing what we’re coached to do basically,” Scherer said. “You get some of it because it’s the first game and we’ve got some guys who have never really played or started a game before. The good thing is, it’s small things that can easily be fixed, but there’s a lot of small things.”

It’s easy to point to the yards allowed, more than any game last season by 64 yards, and the points allowed, only two teams topped 26 points against the Tigers in 2015.

But it’s also worth noting that West Virginia returned the bulk of an offense that averaged 34 points per game last season and only three teams — Oklahoma State, TCU and Kansas State — held Dana Holgorsen’s offense under 26 points last season.

“I went home and thought we played pretty crappy just like everybody else did,” said Scherer, who finished with a game-high 10 tackles, all solo with one for a loss. “Then you realize, 26 points, as you start watching games, it’s not bad. As bad as we make it sound because we have such high expectations, it’s not terrible.”

And it’s unlikely to get worse.

“I don’t know if I can get any worse, which is good …” Scherer said. “It’s tough to lose. It’s not fun, but there’s a lot of things on film that we can correct. I’d rather correct it now than later.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Mizzou defense sees ‘small things’ to correct after West Virginia loss."