COLUMBIA, Mo. - It might have felt like déj vu for the Missouri football team.
A storied program loses its star running back for a matchup against the Tigers, only for his backup to tear through Missouri's defense.
In 2014 against Georgia it was Nick Chubb rushing for 143 yards and a touchdown filling in for Todd Gurley. On Oct. 1 against LSU it was Derrius Guice's 163 rushing yards and three touchdowns and Darrel Williams' 130 yards and three rushing touchdowns filling in for Leornad Fournette.
Missouri lost both games handily.
That game in 2014 ended up just being a blip on the radar Missouri rallied from to eventually win the SEC East. This season, however, Missouri (2-3, 0-2 SEC) has had its share of defensive struggles.
"I think there were times the other night that we were trying to do a little too much individually," head coach Barry Odom said Monday. "Let's play our 1/11th. Do your job and get the other ten guys around you doing it."
First-year defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross has implemented a new defensive scheme that differs from what former defensive coordinators Odom and Dave Steckel before him ran. Cross and his players have said in the past there has been some hesistation with some players making the switch, leading to more blown assignments.
"So when they are trying to say, 'You should do this, this and this,' well you're not even close,'" senior lineabcker Michael Scherer said. "Then also you have to realize most guys in this system, like me, in high school when I played defense, it was, like up and figure the rest out, there was no plays, there was no scheme. I got here and the defensive scheme I learned here was the only thing I knew. It was all I knew, it was all I learned. I put four years into learning that and then we're coming in and I have to learn a whole new system."
In the midst of the transition, Missouri is giving up 421 yards and 23 points per game.
Last season the Tigers gave up 301 yards and 16 points per game.
During the team's bye week last week, the Tiger defenders sat down with Cross to discuss possible changes.
"Just kind of making it easier on us on the field and making it a little quicker read for everybody, getting the call in quicker," redshirt junior and former Jefferson City Jays linebacker Joey Burkett said one change was. "He was fantastic with it, we all just sat down and had a conversation with it like we were in a group chat."
Burkett spent three years playing in Odom and Steckel's defenses before this season, but said one underlying theme in all of them is it takes all 11 players being on the same page to work properly. He added communication is one area that could improve.
When it comes to making changes, Scherer said Cross is not "my way or the highway" when it comes to being open to what his players have to say.
Cross has taken bits and pieces from coaches he has previously worked with to develop his scheme, which emphasizes gap integrity on the line. He knows what he wants, but even then said he needs to be open to what his players are saying.
"Structurally, I've had to simplify some things to help cater to what we have and that's where we're at right now," Cross said. "The team meeting, the guys got together and visited. I sat down personally with the defense just to make sure I got on the same page as them as far as concerns and things like that, and it was good.
"We've got to realize those guys have an input and value to what you do no matter what I think I know I still got to take their input, and I was able to do that. but it doesn't make up for missed tackles. Missed tackles was the key and I'm not afraid to say it."
Even with the missed tackles, Cross' scheme has worked when it functions properly; Chubb was held to 63 rushing yards Sept. 17 and West Virginia scored fewer points than it averages a game, for example. Switching schemes in general can just take time.
Trust also gets built in that time.
"You have to trust in the system and you have to trust in the guys that are out there with you that they're going to make plays," Scherer said. "I think where we go wrong something is guys may not trust it and do a different thing than they're supposed to do.
"I run into it, where I don't maybe trust sometimes when I should and I try to do way too much more than I should. The same with other guys where that gets you out of position."
Still, the Tigers have shown that trust in each other this season. That trust then reflects on the field.
It's what kept Chubb to 3.3 yards per rush. It's what limited West Virginia in getting to the end zone.
"We did our jobs and trusted each other," Scherer said of those performances. "I think when we have energy on defense and when we go and play what you've seen in the past and it looks like guys are out there having fun and making plays.
"When we lose that, we're not very good."
Notes: Missouri announced Tuesday a home-and-home series with Boston College. Missouri will play at Boston College on Sept. 25, 2021 and Boston College plays in Columbia on Sept. 14, 2024. The two teams have never played each other. Missouri's Homecoming game Oct. 22 against Middle Tennessee St. will be played at 3 p.m. Missouri plays at Florida at 3 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.