After Alabama defeated South Carolina 47-23, you don’t expect “defensive struggle” to be the storyline of any future South Carolina games, but the Gamecocks head to CoMo impressing in one defensive category.

Will Muschamp’s squad held the Crimson Tide to just 76 rushing yards on 25 attempts. Those numbers are going to get any coach’s attention. On the weekly SEC media teleconference, Mizzou coach Barry Odom talked about South Carolina’s ability to stop the run.

“I think they have outstanding coaches, I think they have a tremendous scheme and they have the players to play within the scheme that they want to play,” Odom said. “They control the line of scrimmage, they are good in the box, really good up front. They tackled well, and they have great perimeter support from help from their players in the secondary… They understand their roles in the scheme and they execute and are coached at a high level.”

The Missouri defense, however, does it all. The Tigers are ranked No. 4 in total defense, allowing just 218 yards per game.

“We didn’t play well Week 1 but we have made improvements each week,” Odom said.

“The challenge now is to play better than we did last week,” the Tigers coach added.

Mizzou topped SEMO 50-0 in Week 3, allowing just 94 yards of total offense.