Well, the national champion has finally been crowned and it’s about time to but a bow on the 2024-25 college football season. Before doing so, however, I want to take a last look at the season that was for Mizzou. Specifically, I want to grade out the performances of the Tigers’ coaches. The very first piece I wrote for Rock M (published exactly a year ago) was about Eli Drinkwitz’s search for a new defensive coordinator, so to celebrate my first anniversary at Rock M I’ll start off on the defensive side grading out Corey Batoon.

I had actually given Batoon a mid-season report card as well, since he was the new kid on the block and I wanted to explore how he was doing halfway through his first season. At the time that article was published, Batoon’s defense was performing well above expectation and had shown quite a bit of improvement over the 2023 unit. For that midseason report card I took a look at three areas: secondary performance, front seven performance and total defense. We’ll stick with those areas for this final report card as well:

Secondary performance

Coming into the 2024 season, the secondary was by far the biggest question mark. The Tigers lost three of their five starters to the NFL draft and were going to rely on young players and transfers to fill the hole.

We’ll take more of a look at individual position performance when we dive into the position coaches later this winter, but for now we’ll look how Corey Batoon managed the secondary within his defensive unit and how they produced on the whole in 2024.

As for overall production this season versus last season, let’s look at the stats:

Contrary to the mid-season breakdown, there is a lot more red ink on the 2024 side of things at the end of the season. This is largely in part to the fact that Mizzou didn’t see any good passing offenses until the second half of the season in South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas. The most notable jump from mid-season to end of season is the passing yards per game, which bumped up 15 yards per game after the back half of the schedule was completed. That number is still significantly better than 2023, which is ultimately surprising considering the loss of talent in the secondary.

Batoon’s defense did strangely improve their yards per completion number at the end of the year, despite giving up more passing yards per game. That number is still higher than you’d like to see at 12.2 ypc, which is a full yard worse than last year’s unit, but the secondary did see some improvement in the number of big passing plays they were giving up. However playing teams lacking in explosive passing ability like Oklahoma and Iowa certainly helped.

Overall, looking at national ranking numbers in all of these statistics, Batoon’s secondary fell in around average or slightly below average in just about every category. Considering the number of question marks around the secondary entering the season, I will certainly give him a passing grade for his secondary performance. But a deficiency there did cost Mizzou in one game as South Carolina was able to pass the ball at will and the overall numbers compared to peer teams don’t line up great.

Grade: B-

Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green (10) attempts to throw the ball as he is sacked by Missouri defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. (15) in the fourth quarter of a game against Arkansas on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at Faurot Field. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

Front seven performance

The Tigers front seven had even more talent to replace this past off season in first round pick Darius Robinson, third-round linebacker Ty’ron Hopper, starting linebacker Chad Bailey and three rotational defensive tackles in Realus George, Jayden Jernigan and Josh Landry. Batoon used replacements primarily from the transfer portal including Khalil Jacobs, Corey Flagg, Zion Young, Eddie Kelly, Jr., and Chris McClellan to mixed, but mainly decent results.

As for overall production this season versus last season, let’s look at the stats:

The front seven performance compared to 2023 saw an even more stark dip from mid-season to end-of-season than the secondary did. Most notably, rushing yards per game saw a big decline, from 125 ypg at mid-season down to 143.8 ypg by season’s end. The unit’s havoc rate also saw a decline, not only from mid-season to the end, but from 2023 to 2024. Tackles for loss and sacks were both notably worse in 2024 compared to 2023.

Despite Johnny Walker, Jr.’s late season surge, the Tigers racked up more than one sack LESS per game and nearly 1.5 tackles per loss less this year than last year. Ultimately, that change was mitigated in large part by the 2024 team’s better ability to limit explosive plays compared to 2023. However, Batoon ostensibly was brought in to run the same style of havoc-inducing defense that Blake Baker used to good effect in previous years.

Losing four solid defensive linemen, including a first-round draft pick will certainly ding any unit, so I am not going to hold that against Batoon too much. However, you’d still like to see the defense be a bit more havoc-y than it was, especially since the defense ranked merely middle of the pack in tackles for loss and sacks. Overall, the unit operated fine, with no major issues or any massively bad performances, so Batoon will get a fine grade here.

Grade: B-

Missouri safety Marvin Burks Jr. (1) celebrates a defensive stop in the third quarter of a game against Auburn on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Faurot Field in Columbia. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

Total defense

Taking a look at the front half or back half of the defense in a vacuum actually gives you less than half the picture. Because defenses rely on all moving parts working in conjunction, it’s important to evaluate the unit’s production as a whole. Here’s how Batoon’s defense stacked up to last year’s defense:

What jumps out comparing 2023 to 2024 is how similar a lot of the scoring stats turned out to be. Batoon’s unit allowed virtually the same number of points per game, points per play, red zone attempts and red zone scoring percentage. Those stats all rank in the upper third to upper quarter of the country and short of team-wide flops against Alabama and Texas A&M, the defense put the Tigers in the position to win every game.

What excites me about Batoon’s ultimate total defensive stats though is the first downs and third down conversion numbers. His Tiger defense was truly elite in these categories, only giving up 17 first downs per game and allowing a staggering 3.7 third down conversions per game. Ultimately, the job of a defense is to get off the field so the offense can score. Batoon’s defense did that amazingly well.

We’ve already discussed the decrease in havoc-inducing plays in 2024 and those numbers are born out in the total turnovers forced. Finishing 80th in the country in turnovers isn’t ideal and certainly an area that Batoon can look to improve in 2025. While fumbles involve a lot of luck, interceptions don’t and Batoon needs to find ways to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks at both levels to find more takeaways.

Because of the solid scoring defensive numbers and truly elite third down numbers, I’m going to give Batoon his best grade of the season.

Grade: A-

Missouri players celebrate recovering a fumble in the first half of a game against Auburn on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Faurot Field in Columbia. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

Final Grade

Mizzou fans didn’t quite know what to expect out of the Tiger defense coming into the season. A new defensive play caller and seven new starters created many unknowns for the unit. Based on the stats comparing 2023 to 2024, it’s hard to say Batoon’s defense was better than the 2023 version under Blake Baker. That said, it’s also hard to point at anything other havoc rate and say Batoon’s defense was markedly worse either.

Replacing so much lost experience and talent from 2023 to 2024 definitely hamstrung the defense overall. Thankfully, the Tigers don’t lose as much experience or talent off the 2024 squad and have already brought in several equal-or-better players in the transfer portal, which should set up Batoon well for 2025. Batoon certainly passes his first year at Mizzou, if not with flying colors than at least with a solid foundation from which to build.

Overall grade: B