Bouncing Back: Defensive dominance

The Missouri football team has gone through a sort of "re-branding" over the last two years.

Instead of being known for a high flying offense (SEE: The Chase Daniel Years; 2013), the Tigers are now known as a defense-first team. Last year, in a disappointing 5-7 year, the defense was superb. The Tigers finished fifth nationally in scoring defense (16.2 PPG) while being on the field for nearly 33 minutes per game (12th nationally -- and that's not a good 12).

In 2014, which resulted in an SEC East title for Missouri, the Tigers finished 20th nationally in scoring defense.

Now, the Tigers look to 2016 to continue that defensive dominance as the offense looks to even out the scales. To see how likely it is that Missouri can maintain its defensive excellence over a three-year period, we broke down the top 20 scoring defenses in the nation every year since 2008, and looked for teams that appeared on the list in consecutive years.

(NOTE: We just looked at scoring defense, because that is arguably the most important 'team' stat. If your opponent scores fewer points, you have a better chance of winning.)

From there, we looked at teams that have had streaks of three or more years on that list. The chart below shows the breakdown.

Of the 162 spots on the list (20 or 21 spots each year since 2008, depending on ties), 49 were filled by 12 teams in at least three consecutive years. Three of the streaks are on-going, and Alabama, impressively, has been apart of the list every year since 2008.

Breaking down the teams' records even further, only three teams did not have two 10-win seasons during a 3-year span in their streaks. Boston College won 9, 8, and 7 games from 2008 to 2010; Wisconsin won 11, 8 and 9 games from 2011 to 2013.

Florida's on-going defensive prominence has two such streaks, with just two ten-win years in five seasons, but neither occurring within three years of each other.

Missouri's record over the past two seasons is 16-10. Last year, the Tigers went 5-7; the only other team among those 12 to have a sub-.500 season is Florida in 2013 (4-8).

Nothing can be seen in a vacuum, of course, but the odds are that if Missouri's defense stays in the top-20 in scoring defense this year, the Tigers' record will bounce back. Of course, staying in the top-20 for three consecutive years is a tough feat.