Statistical Review: Missouri #58

Oh, what a difference a conference makes. Missouri in 2012 had the toughest schedule in the country both in terms of bowl eligibility and going undefeated. And it wasn't the non-conference schedule. Missouri got Alabama and Texas A&M out of the West, who were each, arguably, the best team in the country when Missouri played them. They played at Florida and at South Carolina. The only given on their conference schedule was Kentucky at home, and they won that game handily.

Oh, what a bigger difference a half-dozen injuries can make. In 2011, with a little help from the opposite sideline, Missouri beat Texas A&M. In 2012, A&M literally could have called students from the stands to play the second half and still won. That has nothing to do with playing in the SEC. Pinkel got .045 points per pass from his quarterbacks in 2012, half as many as Rutgers.

The defense was underrated, top 20 by most metrics. It allowed 1.9 points per possession, but 142 of those points came against Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M, three of the nation's four most efficient offenses. Performances against Tennessee, Syracuse and Texas A&M to close out the season were uninspired, but Missouri's D was quite good through the rest of the season when playing against mortals. They could have been much better if they hadn't allowed more than 5 points per possession in the red zone.

-------------------- The Statistical Review breaks down teams along a number of performance categories, everything from red zone scoring to field goal percentage, and compares that performance against the rest of the FBS. All 124 teams will be reviewed from 124 to 1 by the hybrid rankings. You can find short descriptions of the stats used in the table below.