MU defenders focus on stopping the run
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
Pick your offense — West Coast, power-I, flex bone. Whatever. To Missouri linebacker Derrick Ming, they’re all the same.
“I think stopping the run is the most important thing,” Ming said. “That opens the defense up, makes the offense have to throw.”
We now offer a statistic that creates a tinge in the Tigers’ starting weak-side backer.
Missouri’s allowing an average of 171.8 yards rushing per game, a number that ranks 89th out of 117 NCAA Division I-A teams.
The Tigers’ problems in that area have been a major reason why they’re allowing an average of 31.5 points a game, a number that ranks 100th nationally.
“Being a linebacker, I kind of was hoping that we’d do pretty good against the run,” Ming said. “We haven’t done what I wanted, but I think a lot of guys are up to the challenge.”
For instance, in Mizzou’s last two games against Oklahoma State and Iowa State, it’s given up an average of 144.5 rushing yards and just 2.9 per attempt. The Cowboys and Cyclones rank Nos. 5 and 11, respectively, in the Big 12 at running the ball. Now, the Tigers face the balanced West Coast attack of Nebraska, which ranks No. 9 in the league in rushing.
“I think there’s going to be a lot more focus on the front seven in trying to stop the run,” Ming offered. “We’ve got to go back to fundamentals. It’s always been a focus, but it comes down to the players getting the job done. When we’re stopping the run, there’s an intensity — with six, seven guys tackling the ball.”
Ming is the Tigers’ third-leading tackler with 40. He also has four quarterback hurries and is tied for the team lead with two forced fumbles.
In last week’s 27-24 overtime win against Iowa State, Missouri’s defense produced its first two defensive touchdowns of the season. That staked the Tigers to a 14-0 lead, and after the Cyclones stormed back to take a 24-14 edge, the defense forced a punt that gave the offense the opportunity to drive for a game-tying touchdown in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.
Then, in overtime, Missouri held ISU to minus-1 yard before a missed field goal, putting the offense in position to nail down the victory.
“We decided that it was going to be up to the defense in order to get the game won,” Ming said.
It would be easy for the Tigers to rely on an offense that ranks 14th nationally at 476.3 yards a game. But over the past two games, that hasn’t been the case. Mizzou has come up with six turnovers in the span — one more than it produced in the first four contests.”
“They’re a pressure front. They’ll give you a mixture of different blitzes (and) feature a lot of different players as they put pressure on the quarterback or the running back — it doesn’t matter,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “If it’s just in the passing game, it’s no concern of theirs. They’ll blitz you whether you’re running the football or whether you’re throwing the football, so our pickup efficiency is going to have to be dead-on.”
Missouri is riding its first two-game winning streak of the season and will be looking to win three straight Big 12 games for the first time since 1997.
“We just have to keep working hard,” redshirt freshman defensive end Stryker Sulak said. “If we keep working hard, the winning will follow.”
According to Ming, most of that hard work is aimed at keeping the Huskers’ running game — which features the Big 12’s third-leading rusher, Cory Ross — in check.
“They’ve got a talented offensive line that moves well and their running back is shifty,” Ming said. “He can run power and also has the moves to make you miss. It’s going to be a challenge stopping him.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com
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