Last season, Missouri was one of the worst rushing defenses in the entire country. In fact, they were the third worst P5 school, narrowly beating out the likes of Stanford and Kansas. No matter the level of competition, they struggled stopping the run. Whether it be in the season opener against Central Michigan where they gave up 241 or their beatdown at the hands of Tennessee where they gave up 458 rushing yards, Missouri was going to struggle in that aspect of the game.
A large part of that performance came down to the play of the defensive tackles.