Mizzou coach Barry Odom comments on Tigers’ disappointing defensive effort
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Mizzou’s defense didn’t get off to a great start on Saturday, watching as FCS Missouri State put up 35 first-half points and 492 total yards.
Though the Tigers ended up winning 72-43, the defense doesn’t look like a unit that will be able to keep Mizzou competitive in future games.
On Monday, coach Barry Odom accepted blame for the Tigers’ embarrassing performance, saying he was surprised with how many mistakes his team made on that side of the ball (via STLToday.com):
“As bad as it seemed on the field it was that bad on video,” Odom said on Monday’s conference call with reporters. “It starts with me. We didn’t tackle very well, which I was more than a little surprised with that. We had (tackled well) in practice. Our eyes in the secondary and focus was not in the right spots. We were trying too much in the first half specifically. There were a couple calls that I had that didn’t put us in a favorable situation.”
With South Carolina coming to town on Saturday night, Mizzou’s defense needs to improve in a hurry. Otherwise, QB Jake Bentley, WR Deebo Samuel and the Gamecocks will have a field day.
Sure tackling would go a long way toward keeping the Tigers competitive this weekend.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
