AMES, IOWA • Mizzou senior reserve safety Jasper Simmons, who started 12 games for the Tigers last season and three this year, did not accompany the team to Iowa State for its game Saturday night.

After MU's 14-0 victory, MU coach Gary Pinkel said Simmons was indefinitely suspended for disciplinary reasons Pinkel did not disclose.

Simmons was fifth on the team in tackles with 43, including 10 last week to lead the Tigers in their 38-28 win over Kansas State.

With starting free safety Jarrell Harrison taking some snaps at linebacker last week and working there again this week because of a rash of injuries at the position, Simmons' role figured to be prominent against the Cyclones.

"That change really was difficult for us," said Pinkel, who said the Tigers played a lot more "base defense" than they had wanted to but expressed no doubts about the suspension. "We had to do that."

Simmons missed four games earlier this season between a torn meniscus he suffered in the opener against Illinois and a one-game suspension for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

All-name defense

Self-inflicted or otherwise, Simmons' absence was just the latest in a season-long spree of defensive personnel losses for the Tigers, who have lost more than 40 man-games by defenders who were in the depth chart.

With junior linebacker Will Ebner out for a second straight week with a combination of a neck injury and a broken bone in his foot, redshirt freshman Andrew Wilson made his third start of the season and Harrison largely stayed at safety.

Ebner had been medically cleared to play, Pinkel said, but defensive coordinator Dave Steckel "did not feel comfortable about him."

Nine Tigers had five or more tackles, and that doesn't include defensive end Jacquies Smith, who had three tackles for loss and forced a fumble.

"You can't have a shutout without circling a lot of names," Pinkel said.

No time to waste

The Tigers finish the regular season against Kansas on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, a game they already were talking about late Saturday. The Jayhawks are 3-8 and 1-6 in Big 12 play after their 48-14 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday.

"This is everything, right here," senior cornerback Carl Gettis said.

The game will mark the 50th anniversary of KU's 23-7 win in 1960 over then-No. 1 MU, a game KU later forfeited because of using an ineligible player.

That game accounts for the difference in how the series is seen by each school: According to Missouri, the Tigers lead 55-54-9. Kansas says it leads by the same count.