The Missouri Tigers (11-3) far exceeded preseason expectations for a second consecutive season, winning another SEC East title as well as a post-New Year’s bowl.

So how did coach Gary Pinkel and the team do it? Let’s rank the team’s position groups from biggest asset to biggest liability.

1. DE

Can we all agree to start calling Missouri “Defensive End U?”

Shane Ray earned SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors and should be a first-round pick. Markus Golden overcame a hamstring injury to manage 20 tackles for loss.

Together, the two made a strong argument as the best pair of starting defensive ends in the country, and certainly in school history. Ray and Golden combined for 24.5 sacks and also played much better than expected against the run, especially chasing down plays from the backside or scraping along the line of scrimmage.

Backups Marcus Loud and Charles Harris didn’t do much, but they didn’t have to.

2. DT

One of the most underrated groups in the SEC and likely the engine for the 2015 team, this group rolled four deep for most of the year.

Harold Brantley, Lucas Vincent, Matt Hoch and Josh Augusta anchored a solid run defense and cleared room for the linebackers. But the quartet also cemented Missouri as the best pass-rushing team in the SEC, combining for 12.5 sacks.

3. RB

Marcus Murphy didn’t produce as much as a receiver than it seemed like Missouri hoped for entering the season, and Morgan Steward didn’t play all season due to a hip injury.

Still, Russell Hansbrough (1,084 rushing yards) and Murphy (924 rushing yards) combined for 14 rushing touchdowns and better than 5.2 yards per carry.

Both players presented big threats in the open field in addition to good relative strength. The Tigers passing game bogged down often this year and the line play was inconsistent, but the running game was always there as a steady offensive foundation.

4. LB

Kentrell Brothers and Michael Scherer transformed from a couple of standout athletes with modest expectations to one of the best returning pair of linebackers in the SEC.

Brothers, the veteran before the season, missed spring practice and then lost the middle linebacker spot to Scherer before the season. After a slow start, he played his best football late in the SEC schedule and finished second in the conference in tackles.

Scherer wasn’t far behind, easily topping the century mark in stops.

Not the most physical duo, both were better than average in coverage and leveraged their speed and smarts — as well as strong defensive line play — to gobble up tacklers and prevent ball-carriers from reaching the back level of the Tigers defense.

5. WR

Bud Sasser became a certifiable star in the SEC this season and inherited the title of Maty Mauk’s go-to receiver by the end of the year. He even did enough to make coach Gary Pinkel publicly question the wisdom of not playing Sasser more in 2013, when the team was loaded at wideout.

Jimmie Hunt and Darius White battled inconsistency, drops and injuries for a large part of the season. The seniors played OK, but weren’t huge assets.

Depth behind those three was a major disappointment, especially considering there were opportunities due to injury and the fact that all three of those players are now gone. Nate Brown led the youngsters with five receptions for 45 yards. Four other young receivers caught between one and three passes.

6. OL

Inheriting a new offensive line coach less than two months before the season started didn’t help, as Bruce Walker retired at the beginning of July. Anthony Gatti’s season-ending injury early in the schedule, leading to a major reshuffling, didn’t help either.

Evan Boehm and Mitch Morse anchored this unit and did a solid job, finishing the season with a flurry. But Boehm especially didn’t quite live up to preseason expectations.

Right guard Conner McGovern played a much better second half of the season, particularly as a run blocker, while the rest of the offensive linemen are just average Joes.

7. QB

Conventional wisdom before the season stated that Mauk and the quarterbacks needed to finish at least second on this list of Missouri position rankings for the Tigers to have any chance at defending their division title.

Well, after a few highly-productive games to start the season, Mauk backtracked and became more of a liability to the offense. A shoulder issue, the lack of depth at receiver and an occasionally-shaky offensive line all contributed. But mostly he just hasn’t yet developed into a pocket passer. His accuracy still needs work. He’ll always be a gunslinger, but he still needs to improve his decision-making.

Mauk wasn’t as productive as a runner as most anticipated as the Tigers went to more of a conventional running game than it produced with James Franklin as the starting quarterback in recent years. Mauk still has a chance to develop into one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC, but he must make big progress this offseason.

8. DB

He’s still young, but Aarion Penton never developed into a dominant cover corner, and also suffered a mid-season suspension due to a legal issue involving marijuana.

Junior college transfer Kenya Dennis was a pleasant surprise and the most physical, sure tackler among the cornerbacks.

Braylon Webb shook off some early disappearing acts to provide a steady presence against the pass and against the run, leading the team with four interceptions.

This group’s overall numbers are pretty good, thanks to a dominating defensive line. But they allowed good quarterbacks to complete a high percentage of passes and relied too much on a fierce pass rush. All things considered, a good secondary would’ve snatched up a lot more interceptions given the opportunities created.

This group as a whole wasn’t the best against the run, either.

9. P/K

It could’ve been much worse for Andrew Baggett, who followed up a shaky 2013 season with a slow first half. But he closed strong to at least look respectable, and even made two field goals of longer than 50 yards in a division-clinching win against Arkansas.

Punter Christian Brinser wasn’t great, finishing near the bottom of the SEC in most categories.

Murphy was the strength of the special teams as a returner, but the coverage units were just OK and the kickers were below average.

10. TE

Missouri gave Sean Culkin every opportunity to get involved in the passing game, and he did catch 20 throws. But Culkin dropped way too many would-be catches and occasionally wasn’t on the same page as Mauk. He’s not an elite SEC blocking tight end, either.

Clayton Echard and Jason Reese played fewer than 100 offensive snaps combined and weren’t a major factor.

Tight ends aren’t a huge part of coordinator Josh Henson’s offense, but the Tigers need better execution out of this group.