No team is perfect, even in the SEC.

We learned as much when the conference failed to win a national championship for, gasp, the second straight season.

So what if SEC fans have high standards? That’s a good thing, and we should celebrate it. But we should also know how to properly evaluate SEC teams, both their strengths and weaknesses.

Let’s take a look at the defending SEC East champs.

MISSOURI TIGERS: 2015 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

PROJECTED OFFENSIVE STARTERS

Strength: RB Russell Hansbrough

One of five returning SEC running backs who rushed for 1,000 or more yards last season, Hansbrough will be the focal point of Missouri’s offense. He’s also playing behind what could be the conference’s most underrated offensive line, so expected more big numbers from the senior.

Weakness: WR Wesley Leftwich

It’s tough singling Leftwich out among an unproven receiving corps, but the senior wasn’t exactly brilliant when filling in for injured starters last season. In his four starts last season Leftwich failed to make much of an impact, catching just three passes for 36 yards. He has good speed but some have questioned his hands. Leftwich’s ceiling is clearly the lowest among Missouri offensive starters.

PROJECTED DEFENSIVE STARTERS

Strength: LBs Kentrell Brothers and Michael Scherer

The most feared linebacking duo in the SEC, Scherer and Brothers combined for 229 tackles last season. The two are effective anywhere on the field and are quick to account for mistakes made along the line. Expect Brothers and Scherer to continue to wreck havoc on the SEC under new defensive coordinator Barry Odom and his creative blitz packages.

Weakness: DT Josh Augusta

Missouri is losing a lot along its defensive line, and one of its returning players may not be up to par. Augusta was a solid rotational player at defensive tackle last season, but the Tigers need him to be much more than that because of Harold Brantley’s injury. Yet Augusta, who seemingly never exceeded three plays in a row in 2014, has struggled to stay in shape. Missouri coaches wanted him lighter last season, and again are voicing some concern about Augusta.

POSITION UNITS

Strength: Defensive back

Gary Pinkel has called this year’s corners and safeties the most athletic secondary he has ever had. The Tigers lost their captain and top safety last season in Braylon Webb to graduation, but the returning players have a chance to be the Tigers’ best players. The other three starters (Aarion Penton, Ian Simon and Kenya Dennis) are returning, with Webb’s replacement, Anthony Sherrils, arguably the best athlete of the bunch. The Tigers are also deep behind those four. SEC quarterbacks will have to do some extra studying to prepare for Missouri’s defensive backs.

Weakness: Wide receiver

This is the second straight season Missouri is replacing all of its starting receivers, and things shouldn’t go as smoothly as they did last year. Only three Mizzou receivers have ever caught a pass in college, with the most being five by sophomore Nate Brown. The guy the Tigers need to break out, J’Mon Moore, lost his starting spot on the depth chart as a result of an argument with a coach. There is talent among the receivers, but it’s so young and inexperienced that the position could be a revolving door by the middle of the season. No quarterback, especially one like Maty Mauk who relied so heavily on one receiver last season, wants that.

SCHEDULE

Strength: Toughest games are at home

Should the Tigers return to Atlanta as SEC East champions, their schedule will be a big reason why. Besides an Oct. 17 contest at Georgia, Missouri’s most important SEC games are all at Faurot Field. That could be the difference in the standings between the Tigers and the likes of Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina, who all must travel to Columbia.

Weakness: Month of November

Gary Pinkel loves to say that that the best teams know how to win in November. The Tigers certainly knew how to last season, going undefeated in the month. But doing the same in 2015 will be an even tougher task. The Tigers start November against Mississippi State on Thursday night. They follow that with a trip to Kansas City to take on BYU in what is a refreshingly solid non-conference matchup. They finish the season at home against Tennessee and on the road against Arkansas. None of those games will be locks for Missouri.

FAN BASE

Strength: Midwest Nice

Some may use Tigers fans’ polite behavior as proof that Missouri is the Black Sheep of the SEC, but they should think otherwise. Countless opposing fans have felt welcomed in Columbia, a great college town that is energizing yet accommodating on game days. Whether it’s because of the fans, the team or both, Missouri always seems to get support from other SEC fan bases when the Tigers aren’t playing their team. It also doesn’t hurt that the Tigers’ last two SEC Championship Game opponents, Auburn and Alabama, have some of the most hated fans in the conference.

Weakness: Away travel

Look, it’s tough traveling to away games when you call the SEC’s northernmost outpost your hometown. But Missouri fans and students are lacking in away support when compared to their SEC rivals. There were a fair share of Mizzou fans on the road last year, especially at Tennessee and Toledo, but the Tigers have yet to make the same type of impact that Georgia and Alabama fans have made at Faurot Field in recent years. One suggestion: bring all of Columbia to Kentucky on Sept. 26. Lexington isn’t too far, and the Tigers should win the game, so this could be a stepping stone to improved fandom.