Coming off a subpar season with a dramatic change in the coaching staff, there are many questions surrounding Missouri’s offense this season. Yet the coaching history of new offensive coordinator Josh Heupel offers a glimpse into how it might look.

And improve.

Two years ago, Heupel’s Oklahoma offense trailed only Georgia Southern in fewest sacks allowed (0.69 per game) per game. Heupel, the OC and play-caller, has developed a theme in that department.

Last season, his Utah State offense was 44th in the country, and fifth in the Mountain West Conference in sacks allowed. In four seasons at Oklahoma, Heupel was in the top 20 nationally in sacks allowed, including twice in the top 10. Overall, Heupel offenses had a sack rate of less than three percent in three of the past five years.

He’s done it with a variety of quarterbacks, including Trevor Knight, now at Texas A&M,  and Landry Jones.

But he’s typically done it with a quick-release system keyed on making the correct pre-snap decision.

While incumbent Missouri starter Drew Lock isn’t known for his speed, he played basketball in high school, and added 20 pounds in the offseason. While Lock is a drop-back passer by nature, he and Heupel are also working with a line that returns only one starter.

Lock is hoping for a mulligan under Heupel after he started the final eight games of last season, but after showing promise against South Carolina, the Tigers lost six of their final seven games and Lock completed 49.1 percent of his passes and threw eight interceptions and four touchdowns.

Yet given the two coaching stops for Heupel, the one constant across all the signal callers is they’ve all thrown it at least 29 times per game, with a high of 43.9 in 2012 and 44.8 in 2011 behind Jones.

Heupel was relatively balanced in the past five seasons, except for 2014 when Oklahoma had 42 carries per game behind Samaje Perine, who was the only 1,000 rusher in that period under Heupel. The Sooners used Brennan Clay and Damien Williams to divide the bulk of the carries in 2013, and the team averaged 43 carries per game.

Heupel, the starting quarterback for the 2000 national champion Sooners, returned to Norman four years later. As the Sooners’ quarterbacks coach in 2008, Heupel mentored Sam Bradford to the Heisman Trophy, and in 2010 as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator, Heupel coached Jones to the Sammy Baugh Award, given to the nation’s top passer.

As the offensive coordinator at Utah State last year, Heupel’s offense list a starting quarterback, Chuckie Keeton, to injury after three games. Dual-threat Kent Myers stepped in and threw 16 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. Under Myers, the Aggies scored more than 50 points three times, including a 52-26 victory against No. 21 Boise State.

Given Lock’s experience last season, and the relative questions at running back, expect Heupel to lean toward the offensive spread he used in 2011 and 2012 when Oklahoma had 33-35 carries per game and more than 40 passes per game.

That offense, and his track record, will help Mizzou and Lock improve on the 2.5 sacks per game the Tigers allowed in 2015.