1. I'm not really into making any big judgments off this game. Alabama really is three or four touchdowns better than Missouri on most nights. And three or four touchdowns better than probably 80-90% of college football on most nights, if not more. The difference is stunning. They have better players at every single position than Missouri does. Their starting quarterback got hurt and they brought in a guy who had led them to two straight national title games. Their third string running back is a guy Missouri really really wanted who they swept in and stole with a late offer. I mean, I guess get really angry if you want to, but not one thing that happened tonight was even a little bit surprising.
2. Jalen Knox and Tyler Badie showed me something. They can play on this stage.
3. For the second straight game, Drew Lock wasn't good. His receivers also didn't help him. I feel like the biggest problem with Missouri's receivers is they simply don't make plays. They don't go up and make contested catches. They don't help Lock look good when he's not good on his own. That said, the kid has to at some point understand when to throw the football away. He handed Alabama nine points because he simply wouldn't get rid of the ball. The first time was on the sack and fumble. The second was on the safety. Those balls have to be thrown into the sideline and live to fight another day.
4. I'd say the same thing about the secondary. I mean, sometimes, they just get flat beat. But sometimes they're actually there to make plays. They just don't seem to ever really actually make any. At some point in time, football becomes about beating the guy across from you. Missouri's guys don't do that often enough.
5. We'll have the Barry Odom discussion down the road if it's warranted. Like I said in No. 1 tonight just isn't really the night that it makes sense to me. If Nick Saban was on Missouri's sideline and Odom was on Bama's, the Crimson Tide would still win this game. Maybe not by 30 something, but they'd win it.
6. The season is at the halfway point. At the beginning of the year, most of us thought Missouri would be 3-3. That's what they are. Now, I'll admit it's a little disappointing how they got there because they had chances to beat Georgia and they should have beaten South Carolina and neither of those teams is quite as good as we thought, but they're where most people thought they'd be. They now need to go 5-1 in the second half for me to be confident about the direction things are headed. That means a win over Kentucky or Florida. You don't have to win both. But you have to win one. There are reasons to think Missouri can. With Kentucky, they're almost exclusively a running team on offense. Missouri actually defends the run pretty well. With Florida, I don't think they have a great offense. If you can score 24, you should have a pretty decent chance to beat the Gators. Can Missouri score 24? Obviously, along with those games, you have to win the four we all think you should win (Memphis, Vandy, Tennessee, Arkansas) and I'm not sure that's a sure thing. But 5-1 is my bar for the second half. Anything less brings in a lot of doubt and leaves Jim Sterk with a decision to make.
2. Jalen Knox and Tyler Badie showed me something. They can play on this stage.
3. For the second straight game, Drew Lock wasn't good. His receivers also didn't help him. I feel like the biggest problem with Missouri's receivers is they simply don't make plays. They don't go up and make contested catches. They don't help Lock look good when he's not good on his own. That said, the kid has to at some point understand when to throw the football away. He handed Alabama nine points because he simply wouldn't get rid of the ball. The first time was on the sack and fumble. The second was on the safety. Those balls have to be thrown into the sideline and live to fight another day.
4. I'd say the same thing about the secondary. I mean, sometimes, they just get flat beat. But sometimes they're actually there to make plays. They just don't seem to ever really actually make any. At some point in time, football becomes about beating the guy across from you. Missouri's guys don't do that often enough.
5. We'll have the Barry Odom discussion down the road if it's warranted. Like I said in No. 1 tonight just isn't really the night that it makes sense to me. If Nick Saban was on Missouri's sideline and Odom was on Bama's, the Crimson Tide would still win this game. Maybe not by 30 something, but they'd win it.
6. The season is at the halfway point. At the beginning of the year, most of us thought Missouri would be 3-3. That's what they are. Now, I'll admit it's a little disappointing how they got there because they had chances to beat Georgia and they should have beaten South Carolina and neither of those teams is quite as good as we thought, but they're where most people thought they'd be. They now need to go 5-1 in the second half for me to be confident about the direction things are headed. That means a win over Kentucky or Florida. You don't have to win both. But you have to win one. There are reasons to think Missouri can. With Kentucky, they're almost exclusively a running team on offense. Missouri actually defends the run pretty well. With Florida, I don't think they have a great offense. If you can score 24, you should have a pretty decent chance to beat the Gators. Can Missouri score 24? Obviously, along with those games, you have to win the four we all think you should win (Memphis, Vandy, Tennessee, Arkansas) and I'm not sure that's a sure thing. But 5-1 is my bar for the second half. Anything less brings in a lot of doubt and leaves Jim Sterk with a decision to make.
