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Missouri players and head coach Barry Odom are likely tired of fielding the question. But it’s become an inevitable part of each postgame interview.

When a home crowd last saw the Tigers at Faurot Field, the offense put up 38 points in a win over Ole Miss. That performance represented the fifth win in a row for the Tigers, all coming at home, and the 11th straight game the offense had scored more than 30 points, dating back to midway through the 2018 season. Thirty-five days later, the unit hardly looks recognizable. Missouri mustered just six points in its fourth loss in a row, this one to No. 11 Florida. In all of those four losses combined, Missouri has failed to reach 30 points.

So the logical question is, what happened? The answer seems to be that every facet of the offense is culpable, from each position group to the coaching staff. Odom laid the blame at his own feet after the Tigers’ 23-6 loss.

“In a nutshell, we’re not giving them an opportunity to put themselves in position,” Odom said. “And when we do, then we don’t go execute.

“I’m never ever, ever, ever going to point and say ‘The players didn’t do this.’ I always look in the mirror, and I always look at our staff. We’ve got good enough players. We’ve got to find a way to find a way to be able to move the ball offensively.”

Missouri’s 10 punts Saturday represented a season-high and tied for the most in a game since Odom took over as head coach after the 2015 season. The Tigers’ 256 total yards represented the second-lowest total of the season, better only than last week’s shutout against Georgia. The offense has now gone nine quarters without finding the end zone.

The Tigers got starting quarterback Kelly Bryant back after Bryant missed last week’s game with a hamstring injury, and at one point in the first half, it looked like Bryant had finally found a way to do something the Tigers hadn’t been able to do the past three games: stretch the field vertically. A play after connecting with Jonathan Nance for a 25-yard catch and run, Bryant threw deep down the middle of the field for Jalen Knox. Knox adjusted to the underthrown ball and hauled it in for a 44-yard gain.

The consecutive big plays moved Missouri into Florida territory for the first time all game and led to the team’s first points, a field goal. However, the team wasn’t able to recreate the downfield success. Missouri didn’t have a single other completion span more than 10 yards aside from those two.

Players and coaches both said there were more deep passes called, but Bryant didn’t have enough time in the pocket to deliver the ball.

“We had a couple called, and we were hoping, but we didn’t have the time to throw it,” Odom said. “That was the frustrating thing, we had some designs in there this afternoon that we had opportunities, but for whatever reason, we missed a block or they had pressure and he had to scramble.”

The offensive line deserves a fair amount of blame for all of the offensive struggles, both in the running and passing games. Bryant often found himself scrambling for his life in an attempt to escape Florida’s fearsome pass rushers. He was sacked three times in the game. And even when adjusting for those sacks, the Tigers averaged just 2.8 yards per carry in the running game.

“You gotta be able to run it,” Odom said. “If you don’t, then you put so much pressure on completing it. ... It doesn’t matter how great your game plan is. You have to be able to run it.”

Drops plagued Missouri once again as well, as did a few late or inaccurate passes from Bryant. All in all, there’s plenty of blame to go around for the offensive struggles. Bryant, who said he felt fine physically during the game, said the game plan hasn’t changed since the team’s five-game winning streak. It’s the execution that has flagged and needs to improve.

“It’s not on the coaches at this point. Players play, make the plays, and then the coaches coach. We just gotta find our groove back and our identity, get it back going these last two weeks.”

One of the reasons the same Missouri team that scored six points Saturday appeared so much more productive during the first five home games of the season was not the offense, but the defense. The Tigers took the ball away 11 times during their five-game winning streak. Even more impressive, five of those takeaways were returned for touchdowns. A couple more set the offense up inside the red zone.

Missouri’s defense had opportunities to generate similar scoring opportunities against Florida but couldn’t take advantage. For the second game in a row, the Tigers didn't force a turnover.

The best chance for one came when linebacker Nick Bolton jumped in front of a pass from Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. The pass hit Bolton squarely in the hands, and no one stood between him and the end zone. Had he caught it, he almost certainly would have scored.

The ball bounced off Bolton’s hands and onto the turf.

Bolton wasn’t the only defensive players to get two hands on a pass and fail to intercept it. Cornerback DeMarkus Acy got his hands on two different balls but didn’t catch either one.

“Just easy ones we gotta come down with,” Bolton said of the interception opportunities Saturday. “That’s basically been the story of the past few games. … We just gotta find ways to execute. Dropped balls, dropped interceptions, we just can’t have that if we want to win in the SEC.”

The most controversial of Missouri’s missed opportunities came when Khalil Oliver appeared to wrestle the ball away from Gators tight end Kyle Pitts as Pitts came down with a deep pass down the sideline. The officials initially called the play a catch for Pitts, but it was reviewed. Ultimately, the replay official upheld the call. Several Missouri players expressed disagreement after the game, some more diplomatically than others.

“I think everybody has their own opinion of it,” Oliver said. “I have my own. I would like for it to go my way. But it happens.”

“In my opinion, it was a pick,” defensive tackle Jordan Elliott said. “He had a great catch, that was a great catch. I feel like it couldn’t get no cleaner than that.”

One bright spot for Missouri was the play of its starting defensive tackles, Elliott and Kobie Whiteside. Especially in the first half, the duo made life miserable for the interior of Florida’s offensive line.

Both players finished with four tackles. Whiteside recorded two sacks, while Elliott had a sack and a tackle for loss. As a unit, Missouri’s defensive line totaled four sacks and held Florida to 2.2 yards per carry.

“They had four sacks, so we had some pressure, which is good,” Odom said. “Hopefully we get to the point where a sack turns into a forced fumble.”

For the second game in a row, Missouri was without slot receiver Johnathon Johnson. Johnson didn’t dress Saturday due to a shoulder injury. The Tigers also kept wideout Kam Scott, who had started the past several games, on the sideline, though not for injury reasons. Odom said Scott “didn’t show the habits” expected of the team during the past week. Scott received a personal foul penalty for punching a Georgia player in last week’s game.

In the second half Saturday, Tiger safety Tyree Gillespie left the field, gingerly holding his right arm in his left. He did not return, but Odom expressed optimism about his status. He said Gillespie injured his right shoulder, but “he should be okay.”