Missouri Football Preview 2008

The thought last year was that they'd be as good as their defense allowed them to be. Yet going into Week 6 they were allowing over 275 passing yards per game. They ended allowing around 256 yards per game—96^th in the nation. I guess that’s okay when your offense is putting up almost 500 yards per game (5^th in nation, 2^nd in Big 12 to TT ,of course). This year once again, this team will be as good as their defense allows. 10 starters on defense returning. But they lack depth. They don't play Oklahoma this year-- which is good since that was their only loss last year—twice. Rush defense was 25^th in 2007. But for this team, stopping the running game doesn't seem to benefit them significantly. They held two teams under 100 yards rushing last year and ironically, those were their worst games. The Illinois game was the only one they didn't win by double digits and they lost the two games against Oklahoma. As for their own running game, they lose Tony Temple, but Derrick Washington has tons of potential.