Lots of people say that.  I don’t know if it’s true or even provable, and let’s face it, people say a lot of stupid shit.  ”Defense wins championships” is a cliche for the ages, a trite saying that has been repeated so many times the people who actually say it probably aren’t sure what they mean when they say it.  If you google “defense wins championships” you get 92,600 hits.  “Offense wins championships” scores you 1,760 hits.  “Special teams win championship” lands you 80 hits.  So, if you ask Google what’s most important for a football team desirous of a title the answer is quite clearly “defense.” 

I, for one, am willing to accept the winner of the Google Off as gospel. 

Mizzou’s defense rocks.  Right?  You know that’s true, don’t you?  It is.  Are you skeptical?  Are you unsure?  Well, you’ve come to the right place.  Listen, after six conference games, it stands among the giants of the conference.  First, Mizzou is not giving up a ton of yards.

Third in the conference is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you consider the perception that all that’s good in the conference comes south of the Big 12 Conference equator.  Yards are important for an offense.  Defenses try to hinder the advancement of the offense.  Third ain’t bad.  Still, it gets better.  We all know that yards/game is not nearly as instructive as yards/play, which adjusts the stat for context.  Where does Mizzou rank there?

How about that?  Better than our South rivals.  I temporarily lifted the practice of rounding to one decimal point to show off the fact that Mizzou isn’t tied with Tech.  Mizzou gives up fewer yards per snap than any other team in the conference. 

So, the doubters may be sitting there and saying “dude, but none of that matters if you’re giving up points.  Surely, Mizzou sucks there!  Huzzah!”  Well, naysayer, check it:

We are the champions of the defensive metrics!  In conference play, Mizzou’s defense has stepped it up.  Considering that we gave up 56 points and six trillion yards to Texas, the numbers above are all the more impressive. 

I must admit that the conference defense numbers surprised me.  It hasn’t felt like domination, but in reality, nothing defensive feels like domination in the Big 12.  Relatively though, Mizzou’s defense has been as good as, if not better than, our conference foes.  That, and not the oft-written about offense, is what will give us a chance in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Defense! [clap clap clap] Defense!