MO State HS Sports

Knee-Jerk Reactions: Alabama 38, Missouri 19

Well, you can’t say anyone’s really surprised.

Saturday night’s 2020 opener for Mizzou wasn’t the dream they were hoping for, as the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide came into Faurot Field and basically had their way from the opening kick. Despite the fact that the Tigers stood up in the fourth quarter and cut into the lead to make its betting community happy (good teams always cover, right?!), the pace throughout the game was controlled by the visitors. 

Before the game, I firmly believed there was nothing to clearly take away from any mistakes the Tigers made in a game like this. They have a new head coach, a new offensive system, some starter positions that needed replacing, and a perennial powerhouse coming into their house for the first game. Oh yeah, and a shutdown that prevented their new coach from having even 30 practices with his team since he joined. There really isn’t much to read into when a team like Missouri loses to the likes of Alabama in these circumstances, and no real judgment should be passed to Eli Drinkwitz or anyone that took the field for the black and gold for what they were able to do Saturday night.

And still, there were a few things to take away from it. So here are this week’s Knee-Jerk Reactions:

The starting quarterback question appears to be solved for now

It doesn’t necessarily mean that Shawn Robinson is for sure going to start every week, even the next one against Tennessee, but he seemed to have a longer leash than Connor Bazelak. Robinson took the vast majority of the snaps, going 19 of 25 on pass attempts for 185 yards and one touchdown. He didn’t throw an interception, but did lost a fumble on a bad pitch on an option play.

Bazelak ran the first possession of the second quarter, but then was yanked after not converting a 3rd and 9 on a play where he may have gotten it running the ball instead of trying to thread a needle to Damon Hazelton. He came back for the final possession of the game, which he capped off with an 8-yard touchdown run.

Robinson was still shaky under pressure, and often took sacks that could’ve been avoided by throwing the ball away. Nonetheless, it appeared Eli Drinkwitz was ready to give him most of the game, and based off the share of the snaps Saturday night, you’d think he’s the first choice for the head coach going forward. But even then, don’t count out Bazelak to win the job back out of practice.

The Tigers defensive front gave Mac Jones way too much time to throw

Most teams will have trouble getting pressure against Alabama’s offensive line, but with the Tigers bringing an all-senior front-4 to this game, they took a while to get going. Jones didn’t get sacked at all, allowing him to get the ball to his talented receiving corps, leading to a 9-of-14 mark on 3rd down for the Tide. Tre Williams and Trajan Jeffcoat eventually brought backup quarterback Bryce Young to the ground in the fourth quarter. Those plays could’ve been much more useful earlier in the game.

Mizzou’s linebacker tandem is even more solid now

Devin Nicholson started alongside the highly-touted Nick Bolton and led the team with 10 tackles on the night. He was big in the red zone, providing some initial stops of Najee Harris near the doorstep of the goal line. Bolton had his moments too, with a TFL and a fumble recovery. With Mizzou changing around its defensive look to more of a 3-4 base shell, those two in the middle will be called upon quite a bit. We knew Bolton would be strong there, but the play of Nicholson Saturday night shows that this pairing could be a key one in future weeks for the Tiger defense.

Martez Manuel is ready to add to an already-tough safety group.

Tyree Gillespie came out hitting early, as he and Joshua Bledsoe were tasked with trying to keep pace with Alabama’s top receivers. Manuel joined in too, registering seven tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss in his first start. Mizzou’s safeties were also called upon to stop Harris from breaking free for big plays out of the backfield, and Manuel made a shoestring tackle to prevent him from a 70+ yard touchdown run in the first half. The Tigers’ defense has its fair share of experience all over, but it’s guys like Manuel to keep an eye on for the rest of the season to see how they can impact games against opponents Mizzou may have a better shot at beating.

Alabama refused to be bitten by the season opener upset bug

We’ve certainly seen craziness across college football to start, and the SEC was no stranger to that with LSU taking an early loss to Mississippi State. But Nick Saban’s group wasn’t messing around. They got the chunk plays they needed to put Mizzou’s defense on its heels, and played to their strengths by feeding Harris. The senior back found the end zone three times, finishing with 98 rushing yards on 17 carries. Any worries of a defense that may have had its struggles against the run were quickly doused, as linebacker Dylan Moses, who missed all of 2019 with a knee injury, returned to the fold with two tackles for loss. You can’t convince me that anyone else in the country is playing better than the Tide right now, and they look poised to run the table, even in a weird 2020. Again, if you’re Mizzou, you can’t get all that worked up about your performance Saturday night.