Columbia, Mo. ? According to Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel, his high-flying defense had been “in la-la land the last two weeks.” Try as he may, Pinkel was unable to get his hands on a return ticket.

“Those guys have been beat up for three years, and now all of a sudden everybody’s singing how great the defense is,” he said, reflecting on the unit’s rising reputation after impressive outings vs. Ball State and Eastern Illinois. “There were too many things that were too good, too rosy. … I saw it coming, and I couldn’t (stop) it. So, you point the finger at me.”

The view Pinkel had was of was a speeding train hurtling head-on toward the young MU defenders, who perhaps were starting to believe the plaudits being tossed their way. The wreck occurred Saturday, when winless Middle Tennessee State rocked the Tigers for 483 yards and 40 points.

No. 23 Missouri (4-0) rallied behind quarterback Brad Smith for a 41-40 overtime win, but that did little to mask the depth of the defense’s plunge.

“It was a surprise,” outside safety Jason Simpson said. “I don’t think we expected to get hit for 40 points.”

Not after allowing a total of 22 in the first three games and just a week after Mizzou’s first shutout (37-0 over Eastern Illinois) in 58 games. But Middle Tennessee romped over, around and through the Tigers as if it were from the Southeastern Conference instead of the Sun Belt.

“It was fundamentals, doing our assignments,” cornerback Michael Harden said. “That’s what it all boils down to, everyone playing their role and doing what they’re supposed to do. We didn’t do that, and it showed.”

With archrival Kansas University (3-1) on the horizon (11:30 a.m. Saturday in Lawrence), time isn’t on MU’s side as it tries to “figure out what we did, and figure out how to correct it,” defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said. The revived Jayhawks are racking up 37.3 points per game, and their total-offense average of 499.8 yards ranks fourth nationally.

“We certainly have a challenge ahead of us,” Eberflus said.

Missouri listed no personnel changes on this week’s depth chart, so neither Eberflus not Pinkel could trace the problem to particular individuals after viewing the game tape. Pinkel said he “didn’t like how we competed when we got in the third and fourth quarter. There’s never an excuse for not being ready to play.”

Specifically, two deficiencies jumped out from the film:

The Tigers missed a truckload of tackles.

The Blue Raiders consistently exploited MU in lengthy third-down situations. They were successful eight of 15 times overall, including a 29-yard pass on third-and-27 that extended a 17-play, 81-yard touchdown drive late in the second half that cut Mizzou’s halftime lead to 23-21.

“Nobody was getting enough depth in pass coverage,” Simpson explained. “So, they were easily throwing over our heads.”

Missouri’s points-per-game-allowed average rocketed to 15.5 (No. 19 nationally) from 7.3 (No. 4). Its yards-per-game-allowed mark soared to 339.8 (No. 52) from 292 (No. 26).

Panic hasn’t set in, though, Harden assured.

“We realize we made mistakes, but we can fix whatever we messed up on last week,” he said. “It would be a different case if we were seeing guys just quitting and giving up and the effort wasn’t there.”