COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The problem with Missouri's sluggish running game depends on whom you ask.
The running backs blame the running backs.
The offensive line blames the offensive line.
Even the quarterback faults himself.
In other words, accountability isn't lacking around Barry Odom's veteran offense.
Mizzou's top three tailbacks averaged just 3.8 yards per carry collectively against Tennessee-Martin and Wyoming. The soft spot of the schedule is officially over as the Tigers (2-0) face Power 5 competition in nine of their remaining 10 games, starting with Saturday's 6:30 p.m. kickoff at Purdue (0-2). With Drew Lock completing nearly 75 percent of his passes and Emanuel Hall catching everything in his zip code, the offense has thrived despite a lethargic rushing attack.
But a one-dimensional offense won't cut it in the Southeastern Conference.
"We've got to get a little better in the run game," offensive coordinator Derek Dooley said after Tuesday's practice. "We have to run the ball better. We have to finish blocks better. We have to make defensive backs miss when we're 1-on-1 in space. We've got to get in the right checks."
It's not that Tennessee-Martin and Wyoming eviscerated Mizzou's attempts to run the ball. But the tailbacks lacked pop.
On 31 attempts, starter Damarea Crockett (3.7 per carry) has just two runs longer than 10 yards -- and none longer than 12.
Larry Rountree III, a revelation as a freshman last year when a shoulder injury sidelined Crockett, has three 10-yard runs on his 24 attempts but has averaged just 3.8 per carry. Both averages are well below their career marks: 6.6 per carry for Crockett, 5.6 for Rountree.
"Me, I'm a pretty honest guy," said Crockett, a 1,000-yard rusher as a freshman in 2016. "No disrespect to anyone, but it hasn't been what it should be. Me and Larry know that. We're working hard in practice every day to come out and do what we can do."
"It's definitely on the running backs to run better," he added. "It doesn't matter what the offensive line does. It's on us to bring our pads and on us to get our yards. It's never pointing the finger. You point the finger you've got three back pointing at yourself."
The Tigers returned all five starters along the offensive line from last year, and while the unit has excelled in pass protection -- Lock's been touched once on a pass play and hasn't been sacked -- there were times Saturday when Wyoming's defensive line charged into the backfield against the run. In the first quarter alone defensive end Carl Granderson, a touted NFL prospect, knifed through right tackle Paul Adams and his neighboring tight end for multiple stops at the line of scrimmage.
Fifteen of MU's 40 rushing attempts by Crockett, Rountree and freshman tailback Tyler Badie went for 2 yards or fewer.
Those struggles fall on the team's most experienced unit, senior left guard Kevin Pendleton said.
"As an offensive line, we need to go five for five every play that we can," Pendleton said.
"That's been the biggest focus since fall camp, honestly. Four guys will be doing their job. Sometimes three guys are doing their job. But one or two guys just fall off late or don't finish their block. That's the nail that we've been driving home. Finish in everything we do, because if you have that feeling every play, that if I make this block it'll spring (the running back) for a touchdown, then we'll go five for five and it'll be a good play."
In a different system under a different offensive coordinator, the Tigers began last season with similar struggles. By season's end, the offense averaged 5.2 yards per carry, third-best in the SEC.
"We were kind of going through the same thing," Pendleton said. "A little bit more here, a little more there and a 4-yard run will be a 15-yard run. It's just dialing into the scheme and executing."
While Dooley prefers a downhill rushing attack that employs extra blocking from tight ends -- sometimes two in the same formation -- Odom knows the Tigers aren't equipped to "line up and run the power play 25 times a game," he said.
"That's not really who we are," he said. "But we have to have some run-game presence."
And not exclusively with the running backs. Lock showed off his running skills with a few scrambles and a 27-yard option keeper against Wyoming. If opponents account for the quarterback runs with a defender, the running backs could find open alleys to expose.
Also, Lock said he needs to do a better job selling fake runs when he hands off to the running back -- all to free up space for the ball-carrier.
"I could have taken a couple of hits off our backs," he said, "and maybe we would have busted a few big runs."
For all the pieces of the running game, the work starts this week and can't wait for game day.
"Coach Dooley has a great quote," Pendleton said. "He says, 'The price is paid in advance and you cash out on Saturday.' So we can't go into the game and expect it to just magically appear there. We have to put in the work, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to make sure we're taking the steps for it to happen."