For the 3rd week in a row, Alabama is set to square off against an undefeated, ranked SEC squad with their sights set on downing the Tide and holding the top spot in the SEC. After taking down the #5 ranked Georgia
Bulldogs two weeks ago and the #16 Vanderbilt Commodores last week (and covering the spread both times, I might add), the Tide now travels to Columbia, Missouri, to take on the 14th-ranked Tigers.
Interestingly, Vegas seems to be giving a lot more respect to the Tigers than they did the Commodores. The week opened up with the Tide favored by only -3.5 points, according to the Fanduel Sportsbook. With an Over/Under of 53.5 points, the oddmakers are expecting a close game with both teams scoring in the 20s.
The Tigers have been pretty much dominant across the board through the first 5 weeks of the season, scoring 45 points per game and only giving up 14.6 per game. The problem for Missouri, though, is that it’s pretty much been a 5-week warm up for them. They have the 108th ranked strength of schedule thus far, having played Central Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. The only team with a semblance of a pulse that that they’ve played so far is South Carolina – a much closer game that they won 29-20.
The Gamecocks are already 2-2 and thus far haven’t looked like the top-15 team they were last year, so how good that win winds up being for Missouri remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Alabama’s played the nation’s 3rd ranked strength of schedule. The Tide has been battle tested more than nearly anyone else in the country, and while they came up short in week 1, the past two weeks are the two best wins of anyone in college football.
We know Alabama is a really good, possibly great, team. We don’t know what Missouri is, yet. We also know that Alabama has generally struggled in SEC road games for 4 straight years now, and the oddsmakers are taking that into account. I think the -3.5 spread is most likely giving Missouri too much credit, but maybe I’m just starting to get hopes up too early after a couple of big wins.
Check back at Fanduel for any spread or O/U changes as the week progresses.
