The Missouri defense lost a first-round draft pick at defensive tackle from last year. It lost a second-round pick at safety. It was under the guidance of a new coordinator, who had never before been in charge of a defense. And eight games in, it is undeniable the defense is much, much better than a season ago.
“We have a lot of players that I think are starting to stand up,” Gary Pinkel said. “We know, obviously, about Spoon. Jaron Baston's playing really well. There's a lot of guys that are 
doing a lot of good things in there.”
Pinkel went on to mention Aldon Smith, the safeties and Andrew Gachkar. But the improvements haven't been limited to individual players. The entire team is much better on defense.
Missouri is giving up 22.5 points and 324.6 yards per game. Without three interceptions returned for touchdowns, who knows how much better those numbers could look. Compare it to a season ago; in 2008, the Tigers were scorched for 411.5 yards and 27.2 points per contest.
Though Ziggy Hood and William Moore (along with four other starters) are gone, the biggest change was the one from Matt Eberflus to Dave Steckel at coordinator. But Pinkel wasn't about to play that game.
“When you do that, it's almost like you give credit to one and you look back and compare it to the other, and I don't do that,” Pinkel said. “I always say about last year, and I make this real clear about last year's defense, they were second in the league in scoring defense. And our offense, the great, powerful Missouri offense, was fourth in the league in scoring offense in the Big 12 games.”
It's a nice statistic. But the fact of the matter is, when Missouri needed a stop last season, the Tigers rarely got it. This year, outside of the Texas game, the Tiger defense has been solid. Never more so than early in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Colorado had crawled back to within 33-17, technically a two-score game. They sat perched on Missouri's 12-yard line facing fourth and a short two. That's when all-American Sean Weatherspoon did what all-Americans do. Spoon shot the gap, blew up a running play and destroyed any thoughts the Buffs had of a miracle comeback.
But Weatherspoon was great a year ago. It's the supporting cast that has helped so much this season. Redshirt freshman Aldon Smith is three sacks away from tying the single-season Missouri record. Andrew Gachkar, Will Ebner and Zaviar Gooden join Spoon in what may be the best linebacking corps in Tiger history. Kevin Rutland had an interception and a sack against the Buffs. Robert Steeples had a sack, Jarrell Harrison a safety and Jacquies Smith a fumble recovery (and a touchdown catch, but that's another story).
“It was a great performance,” Jacquies Smith said. “We had to go out there and try to earn back a little respect. We've been having some great weeks of practice, but it was basically just trying to go out there and put it on the field.”
The Tigers have given up more than 27 points (last year's average) just twice in eight games. And left on the schedule are offenses that rank 57th, 75th and 84th in total offense. Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor, the next three opponents, rank 58th, 91st and 92nd in scoring. By the end of the year, this Tiger defense could be far better than it is right now.
Gabe DeArmond is the publisher of PowerMizzou.com, the Missouri site on the Rivals.com network. You can read his daily coverage of the Tigers online at http://missouri.rivals.com.