The Mizzou football team has struggled this season, to say the least. In stumbling their way to a 2-6 record, the Tigers have been an enigma.

The Tigers haven’t had a season this bad since 2000, which was Larry Smith’s final season as head coach. Mizzou finished 3-8 and was tied for last place in the Big 12 North with rival Kansas.

To add insult to injury, the Jayhawks beat the Tigers in Columbia that season by the embarrassing score of 38-17.

This year, the Tigers have lost on homecoming to Middle Tennessee and also dropped home contests to Kentucky and Georgia, with blowout road losses to LSU and Florida sandwiched in between.

The 2000 season cost the head coach his job, something that likely won’t happen to this year’s coach, rookie Barry Odom, but this is still the worst season for Mizzou football in 15 years.

Here are five reasons the 2016 campaign has been especially frustrating:

1. The Tigers are trying to replace a legend: The best part of that dismal 2000 season? After it was over, Mizzou fired Smith and hired Gary Pinkel, kicking off the most successful era of Mizzou football.

The Tigers were a perennial Top 25 team under Pinkel, who finished his 15-year tenure as head coach with an overall record of 118-73 and 10 bowl trips.

Last season was an obvious step back, but because of Pinkel’s overall success, Odom entered 2016 under an immense amount of pressure. He hasn’t been helped by the defense, which, in its first season under coordinator DeMontie Cross, has gone from one of the nation’s best to one of the nation’s worst. Speaking of which …

2. The defensive ineptitude has been baffling: Coming into the season, Mizzou fans weren’t expecting much, given all that happened last season and who was returning. However, they certainly weren’t expecting this.

If there was one thing fans were counting on, it was another great defensive year. Offensive struggles were to be expected, but the defense was supposed to keep Mizzou competitive. Losing Walter Brady and Harold Brantley before the season certainly had an impact.

Unfortunately, both sides of the ball have been atrocious against top opponents this season. Though the Tigers have put up plenty of points and forced plenty of turnovers, they’re not doing enough to keep up with even mediocre FBS opponents.

3. The offense inspired false hope early: No, scoring 61 points against Eastern Michigan and 79 points against Delaware State isn’t as impressive as even scoring 40 points on most SEC defenses, but seeing the offense put up tons of yardage and impressive point totals inspired some hope that first-year coordinator Josh Heupel knew what he was doing.

Since then, though, the Tigers have collapsed. Sophomore QB Drew Lock has looked lost at times and the constant hurry-up offense has not worked against top SEC defenses.

Meanwhile, after showing signs of brilliance early on, WR J’Mon Moore has been a non-factor in recent weeks. Additionally, graduate transfer RB Alex Ross and graduate transfer WR Chris Black have made almost no impact this season.

If the Mizzou offense can’t get it going Saturday at South Carolina, then it will likely revert back to 2015 form for the rest of the season.

4. The injuries have been brutal: Losing LB Michael Scherer was devastating. Scherer was a team leader and, as a senior, one of the last links from the better days of Tiger football.

To see him suffer a knee injury that will end his college career was a terrible way for Scherer to go out. And, in the same game, DT Terry Beckner Jr. tore his ACL, too.

With one up-and-coming star and one established leader lost for the season in the span of one game, fans can’t be blamed for being distraught.

5. The stands have been empty: Much like in 2000, when the Tigers failed to fill Faurot Field for a single game, Mizzou fans have been sparse this season.

After the disappointing loss to Georgia, not many fans showed up to watch Delaware State, when Mizzou won 79-0. Then, after the homecoming loss to Middle Tennessee, the announced crowd was 50,234, but fewer actually saw the 35-21 loss to Kentucky last weekend.

It’s depressing to see the Tigers struggle to win games, especially when they aren’t receiving a boost from a large home crowd.

Technically, Missouri (2-6) still has a chance to qualify for a bowl. Realistically, the Tigers need to win a couple of games to inspire some hope for next year.

To end on a positive note, though, Odom has a chance to do just that. Lock will be a junior and RB Damarea Crockett, WR Johnathon Johnson and WR Dimetrios Mason will only be sophomores. Add in the fact that the offensive line is a fairly young unit and there’s some reason for cautious optimism heading into 2017.