By now, you’ve likely seen the statistics.

Missouri football’s back-to-back shutouts to open the season is an 89-year first in Columbia. The Tigers are the first FBS team to reach Week 3 without a point allowed since Wisconsin in 2019. Dating back to last season, Mizzou has now gone 12 quarters without allowing a touchdown, which the Tigers had not done since 1941.

There are the standout plays and players from Mizzou’s Week 2, 38-0 win over Buffalo. Marvin Burks Jr. and his wide-open pick is one. Johnny Walker Jr. and his edge-crashing sack, another.

But here are three players, after watching the game back, that maybe flew under the radar Saturday:

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Missouri football cornerback Drey Norwood living up to preseason billing

Buffalo targeted Norwood twice in the first half. In both instances, the corner had his receiver within an arm’s length and the passes went harmlessly incomplete.

That was just about enough for the visitors, who didn’t look his way much after that.

There was one exception, when Ogbonna went back Norwood’s way on a deep shot to start the fourth quarter, but guess what? The wide receiver, Nik McMillan, had a Norwood-shaped shadow over him.

Perhaps the best compliment you can give the corner is that he was almost absent from the stat sheet. He was credited with just one tackle, which came as he read a pass to the flat, ditched his man, made up some ground and knocked the pass-catcher out of play for a short gain.

Other than that, Buffalo didn’t really want anything to do with his side of the field, which is exactly what you want to see from a cornerback.

Chris McClellan, defensive tackle

Chris McClellan set the tone on the first play of the game.

The Florida transfer and Tulsa native put a swim move on his blocker almost simultaneously with Ogbonna taking off on a run up the gut. He wrapped his arms around the quarterback, and along with middle linebacker Chuck Hicks took him to the ground for a stuff.

McClellan has been a tough customer up front for Mizzou through two games, and he followed his productive debut up with another stellar showing — and did it against a new style. Ogbonna was a different animal than Murray State quarterback Jayden Johannsen, because his legs have, and will, hurt plenty of teams — Missouri included during his time at SEMO in 2021.

After three first-quarter runs from the QB that went for a combined eight yards, Ogbonna didn’t take off again until the fourth quarter, when the Mizzou backups were in the game.

McClellan got to work on passing downs, too. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the game that McClellan told him that he had another sack, but the coach didn’t seem sold.

Well, the tackle did get half of one — on a third-and-long, as he fought off two players to break through and wrap up Ogbonna along with defensive end Joe Moore III. With 1.5 through two games, McClellan leads the team in that category.

The Tigers are cycling through their tackles regularly, but if McClellan was in the game, a close viewing puts him in the immediate vicinity of a sizable chunk of the Tigers’ stops. He only got credited for four tackles. He was involved in far more.

Corey Flagg, linebacker

Mizzou has steadily been using a rotation of four linebackers during the competitive portions of its opening couple games: Hicks; Triston Newson; Khalil Jacobs.; and Corey Flagg.

Flagg, in particular, is putting up gaudy numbers in his time on the field.

Per PFF, Flagg has played in 37 snaps so far this season. In those reps, he leads Mizzou with 11 tackles, two of which for loss. Against Buffalo, the linebacker was on the field for 19 plays and had six tackles.

That means nearly a third of all the snaps Flagg has faced have ended with him bringing somebody down.

And he’s doing it all over the turf. Take a look at this series:

Flagg kept his eyes on Ogbonna and tracked him all the way across the right side of the line to bring him down for a short gain toward the end of the first quarter. The linebacker held his ground and brought him down on an equally short run later in the drive. On the very next play, Flagg’s ability to read a pass to the flat a few plays later forced a throwaway from Ogbonna that brought about an unsuccessful fourth-down attempt.

MU’s linebackers started the season as a position that needed to prove itself as the Tigers had to replace third-round NFL Draft pick Ty’Ron Hopper. Through two games, it isn’t looking that way anymore.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: 3 standouts from Missouri football's defense after back-to-back shutouts