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Barry Odom's Year 2 magic act is rediscovering defense at Missouri

By the look of the tape and a glance at the stat sheet, playing on Missouri's defense in 2016 appeared to be a recurring nightmare of dreadful proportions.

The Tigers, a model for defensive success with a top-10 unit in 2015, owned the SEC's worst defense last season, ranking 12th or worse in the league in scoring, rushing, passing and total defense. Missouri's defense gave up a conference-high 479.7 YPG last year, but that numbered ballooned to 512.4 in SEC play.

SEC teams rushed for 257.1 yards a game against the Tigers while throwing for 255.3 YPG.