Alabama at Missouri was expected to be a war, and that’s exactly what it was. In the end Alabama was able to bring home the victory, 27-24.
This game had plenty of hype in Missouri as their first opportunity to win a matchup of two top 15 teams in half a century, and the Tigers came out firing on all cylinders. They got the ball first and found little resistance from Alabama’s defense en route to an easy touchdown drive. QB Beau Pribula hit big TE Brett Norfleet near the sideline for the score. Domani
Jackson was over the top on the play, and inexplicably ran about three yards out of bounds to clear a path to the end zone. It’s hard to say what he was doing on that play, but the result was seven points and he was scarcely seen on the field after that.
Missouri’s defense started out strong as well, first shutting down a Jam Miller run then hitting Germie Bernard in the backfield on a screen to open the action. Fortunately for Alabama, Mizzou was called for taunting Germie to keep from having to face a 3rd and very long on the opening possession while down a score. That seemed to let Ty Simpson settle in, as he promptly led the Tide down the field to tie things up at 7.
The defense found its stride at that point. Much like we saw last week against Vandy, Alabama’s run defense was able to adjust and start to limit the vaunted Mizzou attack. Pribula wasn’t able to threaten them much through the air. Meanwhile, Simpson kept cooking and Alabama found a run game of its own. With about four minutes to play in the half Alabama led 17-7 and felt in control. The highlight of the half was this perfect ball from Simpson to Isaiah Horton for the Tide’s second score
Unfortunately, the bad run fits that we have seen too often this season showed up again at that point, as Mizzou RB Jamal Roberts ripped off a long run to get the Tigers into scoring position headed into halftime. They were able to bow up in the red zone and force a field goal to take a 17-10 lead into the break.
One key theme from the first half was missed opportunities for the Alabama defense. Freshman CB Dijon Lee, who came into the game after Jackson’s gaffe on the opening possession, had a potential interception hit him in both hands but wasn’t able to pull it in. Two other times, Alabama was able to strip the football away from Mizzou ballcarriers but failed to recover either of them. In general, it felt as though Alabama should have been leading by more in the game but failed to cash in.
Almost predictably, Missouri managed a strip sack on the opening possession of the second half and was able to fall on it, taking advantage of a critical opportunity. They then cashed in a short field with a Pribula rushing touchdown, and the game was tied at 17.
Alabama’s offense rebounded, mixing in both the run and pass for a long drive. Unfortunately, they had to settle for three when Simpson tripped over Parker Brailsford’s foot for a three yard loss on 2nd and goal from the 1. Ty actually handed the ball off to Miller on the play and he walked into the end zone, but it was correctly overturned on review because Ty’s knee was down before the handoff. It was another lost opportunity, but they did manage to re-take the lead by a 20-17 margin headed into the fourth. Exactly nobody felt comfortable with the situation at that point.
To their credit, the defense didn’t wilt. They got Mizzou in third and medium again by stopping the run, and Bray Hubbard finally got a turnover for the defense with a beautiful diving grab of a Pribula overthrow at the Alabama 40. Miller continued running hard and converted a first down to get into Mizzou territory. He then converted another one on a beautiful shovel pass from Simpson, but was hit in the head on the play and stayed down on the sideline. The drive fizzled from there, and Conor Talty missed a 49 yard attempt to create even more anxiety for the fanbase.
The defense had one more big stop in them, and Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz helped out by rolling the dice on a fake punt near midfield. Dre Washington made a huge play to knock the ballcarrier out of bounds just short of the marker, and Alabama took over again. Miller was unable to return to the game, putting even more pressure on Simpson and the Alabama passing game. After getting behind the chains on another sack, Simpson was staring down a 4th and 8 with the game in the balance. This is all he and Lotzeir Brooks were able to do.
Ty then threw a touchdown to a wide open Daniel Hill on 4th and 2 to stake Alabama to a ten point lead. It got dicey from there as the prevent defense didn’t do its job and the offense was unable to gain a first down to ice it, but another overthrow from Pribula found the waiting arms of Dijon Lee and Alabama escaped.
This team is going to have to find a way to finish more drives and stop having potentiall fatal lapses on defense, but they survive another tough road game and now look to Tennessee. Hopefully Miller isn’t out for too long.
There is plenty of good ball on for you the rest of the day.
Roll Tide.
