Missouri defense struggles in opener

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Without two fourth-quarter interceptions by Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri might have lost a shootout to Illinois in its opener instead of prevailing 52-42. Without three sacks and five total tackles for a loss by Stryker Sulak, what happens?

That illustrates just how shaky the sixth-ranked Tigers' supposedly much improved defense, featuring 10 returning starters, was while surrendering 31 second-half points in Saturday's win over then-No. 20 Illinois.

"I told 'Spoon I loved him for making those two interceptions because you never know what could have happened," defensive lineman Jaron Baston said. "Those are probably the two most important turnovers since I have been at MU."

The secondary bears the brunt of the criticism after surrendering a career day to Illinois quarterback Juice Williams, who threw for 451 yards and five touchdowns, and often had wide-open targets.

But Weatherspoon pointed out he wasn't blameless in Illinois' pointfest.

"I didn't make too many plays in the first few quarters," Weatherspoon said. "At the end of the game, to come up big, kind of overwhelmed me and made me forget about the rest of the game.

"We were on the sideline saying, 'Someone needs to make a play,' and I wanted to be that guy."

Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said Weatherspoon, a junior, flashed the type of talent that could put him in the NFL someday. Weatherspoon stopped one Illinois drive with an interception, and scored the clinching touchdown on a 35-yard interception return after stripping a wide receiver of the ball, a play ruled a fumble until the day after the game.

"He's big and athletic, all the measurables you have to have, and the other thing that he brings to the table is leadership and enthusiasm," Eberflus said. "To play the position, you've got to play with intensity and enthusiasm.

"That might be able to take him to the next level."

Sulak topped Weatherspoon's heroics, earning Big 12 defensive player of the week honors. He also forced a fumble and blocked an extra point.

"I was in the right place at the right time," Sulak said. "It wasn't really anything I did, just my interior guys flushing him out, which meant I really didn't have to do anything."

Aside from those two, not much to brag about.

"Right now, we know we have so much to correct, and we could have done a lot of stuff better," Sulak said. "We had mental errors, myself included."

Respectability should be the goal for the defense, a task that will be eased for at least the next three weeks with only mid-level competition until the Big 12 opener Oct. 4 at Nebraska. Eberflus planned on going back to the basics to cut down on a rash of big plays caused by simple mistakes such as ignoring basic responsibilities to try to make a play.

"It comes back to fundamentals, it really does," Eberflus said. "If we work on those things diligently through the week, I think we'll get a lot of those things corrected.

"Football is a strange game, a lot of moving parts out there, and we've just got to do a better job."

Missouri's secondary was guilty of biting too hard at times against Illinois, committing on initial moves.

"There's always things to work on," Eberflus said. "Some of it is obvious, like the second half when there were some balls thrown over our heads. Our secondary guys need to be on top of the receivers, that's the bottom line."

Even if Missouri throws a shutout against Southeast Missouri State (1-0) on Saturday, Eberflus figures he'll go into Week 3 with a new laundry list for players.

"We come back here next week, we'll have other things to work on," Eberflus said. "Potential is a scary word in football, but with the work habits they have and the talent, no question they have the ability."