Defense delivers first shutout since 2004

It was the team's first conference shutout since 1986.

By Lenny Goldman

Published Oct. 25, 2008

Although former defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams is no longer clogging the line up front, he still manages to make an impact on the Tigers.

Through a two-week stretch of lackluster defense in which Missouri gave up 84 combined points to Oklahoma State and Texas, Williams called junior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon on the weekends. He needed to convince Weatherspoon that it was his turn to take charge.

“I talked to Zo (Williams) the past couple weeks,” Weatherspoon said. “He’s been trying to give me tips. Trying to tell me that I got to be the guy to lead the defense.”

Saturday night, Weatherspoon led a defense that played like it had something to prove. The Tigers beat Colorado 58-0, their biggest whalloping of any conference opponent ever.

“We know the ability that we have on the defensive side of the football, and none of us were playing up to that capability,” senior linebacker Brock Christopher said. “We all realized that. We didn’t get down on ourselves we just went out and prepared this week.”

The Tigers’ defense came out fierce. On the Buffaloes’ first attempt to march down the field, Missouri actually drove them 17 yards backwards. On fourth and 27, Colorado punter Tom Suazo mishandled the snap and was tackled for a loss of 15 more yards, setting up an easy five-yard touchdown drive for the Tigers. 

“The defense is getting stops you want to put points on the board and reward them,” sophomore wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said. “It’s a joint thing.”

The defense continued to fly around in the first half and managed to give up only 33 total yards of offense at the break.

“We were feeling good, but we try not to let ourselves look at the scoreboard,” Christopher said. “That’s what human nature says to do, and that’s what we try not to do. We did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

The defense’s biggest improvement came in its ability to step up in the clutch. Last week it allowed the Longhorns to convert 10 of 12 third downs, but going into the fourth quarter, Colorado was one of 10 on third down.

“That’s just something we just stressed on all week and put an emphasis on,” Christopher said. “Our third down defense has not been good all season especially against Texas. Whenever it’s third down, you got to ramp up your focus that much more.”

The only real time Missouri’s shutout was in jeopardy came on the Buffalo’s final drive of the game as they finally broke into the redzone. Instead of kicking a field goal to ruin the shutout, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins opted to only try for a touchdown.

“At that time, you need to go for it,” Hawkins said. “We were trying to get some continuity, and get some things going and establish some things. At that point, it would have made it 38-2. You’re not going to kick a field goal there.”

The shutout broke Colorado’s streak of 242 consecutive games in which the team scored a point. It was the Tigers' first shutout in a conference game since 1986, when they beat Kansas 48-0.

“It felt great,” Weatherspoon said. “I never experienced one since I’ve been here and a lot of guys have been talking about it. Tonight was just the night. You know, homecoming. Guys wanted to get that shutout for homecoming. We’re just trying to turn our season around.”