No. 14 Missouri has thrived with a light schedule and now gets a resume-sharpening contest on Saturday when it faces No. 8 Alabama in Southeastern Conference play at Columbia, Mo.
The Tigers (5-0, 1-0 SEC) haven’t even played outside their home stadium this season as the Crimson Tide (4-1, 2-0) come in looking to end Missouri’s 15-game home winning streak. Ironically, the Tigers and Crimson Tide are tied for the second-longest such streak nationally behind Oregon’s 18.
Missouri is rolling up an average of 45.2 points per game against a slate that included one-sided wins against Central Arkansas, Louisiana and UMass.
Of course, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer wants nothing to do with that narrative.
“I mean, they’re 5-0,” DeBoer said of the Tigers. “They’re a ranked team.”
Missouri is coming off a bye. Nobody needs to tell Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz that the schedule is about to get harder.
“Now really looking forward to moving on to Alabama,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday. “Which is a really, really good football team and a very difficult test for us. I think Coach DeBoer has his team playing at an elite level, obviously.”
The Crimson Tide have won four straight games since a season-opening loss to Florida State. In the last two weeks, Alabama won a 24-21 road contest against then-No. 5 Georgia and a 30-14 home victory over then-No. 16 Vanderbilt.
DeBoer said one of the keys for the Crimson Tide was shutting down the noise.
“They haven’t listened to what’s outside,” DeBoer said. “You can’t help but know that it’s out there or hear it even a little bit – whether it was the negative talk or the pats on the back, it means nothing. Our guys got to keep moving forward.
“I think we can see what the ceiling is, and it’s much higher than what we performed even on Saturday (against Vanderbilt). And that’s what they got to be excited about, that they haven’t reached that. That’s what’s got to be the challenge moving forward.”
Quarterback Ty Simpson has gone from preseason question mark to rising Heisman Trophy candidate.
He passed for 340 yards and two touchdowns against the Commodores and has an SEC-leading 1,478 yards, 13 touchdowns and just one interception in 158 attempts.
“I’m just really trying to win,” Simpson said Tuesday while swatting aside Heisman chatter. “As much as I want to forget the first game, it’s gone but it’s never forgotten. We talk about it all the time, having a chip on our shoulder. All of that is external to me. I just want to go 1-0 and win.”
Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula also is producing after transferring from Penn State. He began the season as co-starter alongside Sam Horn, but Horn broke his right tibia in the first quarter of the season opener against Central Arkansas and underwent season-ending surgery.
Pribula stepped up and has 1,203 yards and nine touchdowns against three interceptions.
“He’s one of the most coachable quarterbacks I’ve ever been around,” Drinkwitz said. “He has the right mentality on trying to grow and trying to get better and utilizing all the different aspects that he can to improve. He’s really hungry to improve and understands that the best game is still out in front of him.”
The Tigers also scored big by landing transfer running back Ahmad Hardy from UL Monroe. Hardy leads the nation with 730 rushing yards and is tied for second with nine rushing scores.
Alabama has won the past six meetings, including all five since Missouri joined the SEC. The Crimson Tide rolled to a 34-0 home win last season.
