COLUMBIA, Mo. – The talk of the offseason was Missouri bringing back eight starters on offense, including quarterback Brady Cook and All-American wide receiver Luther Burden.

Those two and second-year offensive coordinator Kirby Moore was supposed to headline Mizzou’s push to a potential College Football Playoff berth. That may still be the case. But Saturday at Faurot Field, the talk was mostly about the team’s vaunted “Death Row” defense leading them to a 38-0 win.

For the first time since the first and second games of the 1935 season versus William Jewel (39-0) and Central Missouri State (7-0), Mizzou has recorded consecutive shutout wins.

“I think it's our ability that we've got a lot of depth over there, a lot of consistency and a lot of guys holding each other to the standard,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I think when you can just send waves of players who are fresh continually, I think that's hard on an offense.”

The defense has held opponents scoreless for 11 consecutive scoreless quarters. Mizzou hasn’t done that since 1959 when it went nine quarters without allowing a score. It’s been 12 quarters since Mizzou allowed a touchdown. The Tigers haven’t done something like that since 1941. The school record for consecutive scoreless quarters is 16 from the 1941 team.

In a game like this, you'd expect that the Tigers forced several turnovers. But safety Marvin Burks' first-quarter interception was the only takeaway for them.

The defense just kept the Bulls in front of them.

The Tigers racked up five tackles for loss, three sacks, 3.3 yards per play, 1-of-12 on third down and 1-of-3 on fourth down.

A lot of players chipped in to force the shutout.

Linebacker Corey Flagg led the team in tackles off the bench for the second straight week. He had six tackles with a tackle for loss.

Chris McClellan had four tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks.

Jahkai Lang had three tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack.

Defensive end Joe Moore had one of the better games of his Mizzou career. Moore, Missouri’s DE4, didn’t record a tackle but he and Buffalo quarterback C.J. Ogbonna were well acquainted because the former recorded three quarterback hits and had a pass deflection.

“(I’m) really pleased with the way Joe has responded,” Drinkwitz said. “I think he's continually been a guy who can play, create pressure and (is) continuing to play really good football.”

Another defensive end who made some plays was Eddie Kelly who had a pair of tackles in Week 2.

Kelly and the Tigers were playing with heavy hearts, as Kelly’s mother died earlier this week.

“We gave a game ball to Eddie Kelly tonight. Eddie's mom passed away unexpectedly Wednesday,” Drinkwitz said. “She was here the week before at the game and went home and had a medical emergency after practice on Wednesday and passed away. For him to still be here and for our team to play the way they did around him tonight, whether it's the defense, and that's who they said they were playing for, was a special, special moment and a special thing for this brotherhood.”

Through two games, Missouri has allowed 14 first downs, 254 total yards (82 passing), five third-down conversions on 27 attempts and three takeaways leading to 14 points.

"Yeah, 100% (the Mizzou defense is the best defense I'll face all year). I had to go through it the whole fall camp," Cook said. "I still go through it on Tuesday and Wednesday when we strap it up. So, it's a heck of a defense. I love our good-on-good periods that we continue to do throughout the season because it keeps us sharp. We're going against some of the best DBs in the country, the best D-line, best linebacker room. So, going against those guys, it only sharpens us and we're blessed to have the defense we do."

When a team is several receivers deep, any game could be a receiver’s breakout game. On Saturday, it was Theo Wease who had a career game. He recorded a career-high 13 receptions for a career-high 149 yards.

The receptions are tied for the sixth-most in a single game in school history.

“I had a pretty good night,” Wease said. “I left some plays out there (that) I'm still mad about a little bit. I didn't get in the end zone on one of those plays. But, yeah, I was just trying to maximize every opportunity I got.”

For the entirety of the game, Buffalo corners were sagging off 10-12 yards on Wease every snap to avoid getting beat over the top with a deep pass. So, it was pitch and catch for Cook and Wease all night.

Cook was especially impressed by the sixth-year wideout's 69 yards after the catch and how four of his receptions led to first downs.

“Tonight, just yards after catch was unbelievable,” Cook said. “They were giving us a lot of access on the outside and playing over top of our receivers. So, we were dinking and dumping a lot of different passes and he made the most of it, whether it was a 10-yard stop, 12-yard stop, a hitch (or) a quick out. He was taking it and he was running with it. So, shout out to him. (It was a) career day (and it was) really fun to see.”

At halftime, Wease had 10 receptions on 11 targets for 105 yards. That total alone was already good enough for the second-best performance of his career to that point behind a 10-catch, 118-yard and one-touchdown performance against Vanderbilt in Week 4 last season.

It was convenient that Wease had a big day because the Tigers WR1, Burden, left late in the second quarter due to an illness. Drinkwitz said Burden had been dealing with an illness all week and at some point, couldn’t continue.

Before he left the game, Burden finished with three receptions for 15 yards and two carries for 21 yards and a touchdown.

The Tigers used him in several ways and had him lining up all over the place, including in the backfield.

“Well, it shows up when he's not there that we don't have quite the same repertoire of stuff," Drinkwitz said. "So, he's a guy that we’ve got to continue to get the ball to. I thought our offensive staff had a nice job of having that plan ready for him. But obviously, we’ve got to continue to get other people involved.”

Even without Burden, the team still did well in the passing game. Nine different players, including five receivers, had at least one reception.

In the first two games, Burden hasn’t put up the gaudiest numbers with seven receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown, but he hasn’t had to.

“I don't know if y'all know, but you know one player isn’t our whole team,” Wease said. “Of course, Luther is a great player, 100%, but we’ve got a lot of guys that can go and are ready to go and y’all saw that tonight."

Another testament to this team's depth. Their All-American wide receiver hasn't been heavily relied on in the first two games. Yet, they've scored 89 points in two games and have used a plethora of players to make things happen.

It's hard to critique an offense that scores 51 points in the season opener, but Drinkwitz did earlier this week when he said the deep pass game wasn't as efficient as the team would like it to be.

Cook missed four deep passes versus Murray State, that would've almost certainly led to touchdowns. So, he emphasized that he wanted Cook to lock in on his mechanics and finish his throws.

Well, Cook didn't get a chance to dial up many long shots with the Bulls playing over the top, but Cook had a more well-rounded game in Week 2 than last week.

Cook completed 28-of-36 passes for 228 yards and an interception. He also had five carries for 62 yards and two touchdowns.

"We're 2-0. We scored 38 and 51. He (and the offense) scored 31 (versus Murray State because of an interception returned for a touchdown). So, very efficient," Drinkwitz said. (Cook) does a really nice job of tucking it and running it when we need to. I thought he had an excellent read on the deep ball to Marquis (Johnson) that got a penalty. So yeah, I'm pleased with where we're at. We're not clicking at 100% just yet. So, that's good news, man. That's really good news for us. I'd hate for us to be as good as we're going to be all year."

One of the highlights of the game, saw Cook score a 31-yard rushing touchdown on a broken play where he high-stepped to evade a would-be shoestring tackle by a defender, stumble, catch his balance and leap into the end zone after he received a key block by running back Nate Noel at the goal line.

https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/jamal-roberts-280851After a slow start to the game which saw the Tigers settle for field goals on the first two drives, one of which was missed from 49 yards, Cook led the team to three straight touchdown drives.

Mizzou went 4-of-4 in the red zone with all the scores leading to rushing touchdowns. The Tigers put up 518 total yards (263 passing and 255 rushing), averaged 6.2 yards per play, were 9-of-15 on third down and held the ball for nearly 39 minutes.

Noel found the end zone for the second straight time as a Tiger and finished the game with 12 rushes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

Fellow running back Marcus Carroll also had 12 carries and gained 62 yards out of it, while Jamal Roberts had two carries for 10 yards and a touchdown.

The Tigers did all of this sans two starters. Tight end Brett Norfleet was ruled out earlier in the week. Meanwhile, starting right guard Cam'Ron Johnson was hurt during a two-minute drill in practice earlier this week. Johnson dressed out and was ready to play if an emergency arose, but ultimately he didn't play.

Tyler Stephens and Jordon Harris split reps in place of Norfleet and Mitchell Walters got his first start since 2022 to replace Johnson.

"Shout out Mitch Walters," Cook said enthusiastically. "This is his fifth year. We came in together. We're both from St Louis. It's been really cool to have him line up and protect me. He's done a heck of a job. He's battling through different injuries. He's fighting, he's in the training room. I mean, he's balling out. He did a great job tonight. It's no surprise. In 2022, he started a handful of games and played really well. So, super excited for Mitch and the rest of the offensive line. They're just dominating."

Through, two games Mizzou's offense is averaging 44.5 points per game, 503.5 total yards (217 rushing and 286.5 passing) and a 60% third down conversion rate.

The Tigers welcome Boston College in Week 3.

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