Mizzou’s 2015 campaign was frustrating and memorable. The offense bottomed out, the team announced a brief boycott, and 15-year head coach Gary Pinkel retired to fight lymphoma. With former defensive coordinator Barry Odom taking over, Mizzou is hoping for a quieter, more successful 2016.
Missouri Tigers Regular Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Tigers Over 5.5 Wins -110
Tigers Under 5.5 Wins -110
2015 MISSOURI TIGERS SEASON REVIEW
The 2015 season was the most forgettable year for Mizzou in more than a decade. After starting 4-1, the Tigers went 1-6 the rest of the way, finishing with a losing record for just the second time since 2004. Pinkel built Mizzou into a program where anything under eight wins is a failure. Not only that, Mizzou has been known for explosive offenses of late and the Tigers finished 126th nationally in scoring.
Quarterback Maty Mauk was suspended after four games, tailback Russell Hansbrough was injured and never looked like the 2014 version of himself and the young receivers didn’t develop into any type of threat. But perhaps the biggest offensive disappointment was the play of the offensive line, which struggled to keep Drew Lock off his back.
The helpless offense was even more painful to watch knowing the Tigers had a championship-caliber defense. Top that off with Pinkel announcing that he has cancer and was retiring, and you have Tigers fans wishing 2015 was just a nightmare. After a legendary career, Pinkel deserved a better send-off than the uninspired beating the Tigers received from Arkansas in the finale.
WHAT CHANGED
We don't know what to expect from Odom as a head coach. However, he does have the benefit of plenty of familiarity with the Missouri football program. He made his return in 2015 as defensive coordinator and now has the opportunity to coach at his alma mater. The defense should again be stout, but nothing else matters until the offense rebounds. And that will likely depend on an offensive line patched together with paper clips and duct tape.
After years of having some of the most dynamic offenses in college football, Missouri was a total disaster in 2015, finishing second to last in the nation averaging just 13.6 points per game and failing to score more than eight points in five of the last seven games. New offensive coordinator Josh Heupel will try to speed things up with a faster paced attack that gets the ball out of the quarterbacks’ hands in a hurry.
2016 MISSOURI TIGERS REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Sep. 3: at West Virginia
Sep. 10: vs. Eastern Michigan
Sep. 17: vs. Georgia
Sep. 24: vs. Delaware State
Oct. 1: at LSU
Oct. 15: at Florida
Oct. 22: vs. Middle Tennessee
Oct. 29: vs. Kentucky
Nov. 5: at South Carolina
Nov. 12: vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 19: at Tennessee
Nov. 25: vs. Arkansas
2016 MISSOURI TIGERS SEASON PREVIEW
Mizzou has a new coach who inherits a good defensive group and just an abysmal offense. The Tigers were the 127th ranked scoring offense in the nation last year, something even the nation's fifth-best scoring defense couldn't salvage – the Tigers’ 9-6 win over UConn was performance art, not football.
You’re almost never going to win whey you score fewer than 14 points per game, so how do the Tigers change that? First, Missouri has to start moving the chains. They didn’t have any pop or explosion, and they almost never seemed able to go on any long, sustained drives. Hold on to the ball, then score when the shots are there.
The defense was amazing and the sole reason for Missouri winning five games a season ago. DeMontie Cross takes over Odom’s old gig and will try to keep the production rolling. Enough of the top pieces are back to make this one of the SEC’s best units again. For as much as the D did, it still needs to come up with more.
The schedule doesn't set up all that well for the Tigers, who open the season at West Virginia in a random out of conference matchup and also have trips to LSU, Florida and Tennessee – three extremely difficult road environments. At best, Mizzou matches last season’s win total.
College Football Odds: Missouri Tigers Under 5.5 Wins
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