Last season, an array of black-and-gold-clad Tigers played a role in making Tennessee’s first ever trip to Faurot Field a miserable one.
Maty Mauk had 277 total yards. Russell Hansbrough ran for a score. Three different receivers caught touchdown passes.
Defensive ends Shane Ray and Markus Golden, however, took in most of it from the sidelines.
Unable to crack the starting lineup, the duo played sparingly, racking up just six combined tackles in Missouri’s, 31-3, demolition of the Volunteers last November.
More than a year later, things are much different. As the Tigers once again prepare for the orange of UT, Missouri’s defensive tandem sits at or near the top of some rather impressive statistical leaderboards, leapfrogging some of the SEC’s most elite defenders.
“Those guys are very, very talented,” UT offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian said Wednesday. “They’re very quick off the edge, and the fact that two guys — and frankly they have some depth like they’ve always had.
“Even last year, those two guys were both backups last year, so obviously, they’ve always had depth and have done a good job of developing their players.”
Despite having both starting defensive ends — Kony Ealy and Michael Sam — from last season depart for the NFL, Missouri has hardly skipped a beat in remaining a legitimate pass rushing threat.
Ray currently leads the SEC in sacks with 13, while Golden is tied for sixth in the conference with 6.5 quarterback takedowns — both prime reasons why Missouri averages more than seven tackles for loss per contest.
“They don’t allow you to focus on just one guy,” Bajakian said. “You can’t focus on maybe chip helping to Shane Ray. You’ve always got to worry about Markus Golden … So they make you focus on all of those guys.
“They have a couple different systems where there are times they play three defensive ends in one defensive front in obvious pass situations. Those guys are very active. They’re deep.”
While Ray and Golden have churned out noteworthy figures all season, a large chunk of their production has arrived in a handful of daunting scenarios.
Road games.
The Tigers have won 10 of their last 11 games away from Faurot Field –including a 51-48 overtime win in Knoxville Nov. 10, 2012 – and are a perfect 4-0 on the road this season.
In that quartet of games — wins over Toledo, South Carolina, Florida and Texas A&M — Ray and Golden have combined for 36.5 tackles (11.5 for loss) with 10 sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
“They’re just relentless,” offensive line coach Don Mahoney said Wednesday. “They do a tremendous job over time with their coaching staff. And us getting a chance to know them, you can see that over time, the type of guys they’ve recruited and the program.
“Again, the consistency with the message and how their coaching is and the technique and the style of play is something we really respect. That’s really what those guys do is they play extremely, extremely hard, and it’s consistent. It’s not one play hard and then a couple plays off. They play relentless. They play the way the game’s meant to be played over and over.”
