Alabama Crimson Tide news and notes from the weekend, centered around football's 27-24 win on the road over Missouri.
Alabama wins third straight game over ranked SEC opponent
For the third week in a row, and the second time on the road, Alabama defeated a ranked conference foe. Following wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt, the Crimson Tide did what it had to do to score the win over previously unbeaten Missouri.
Kalen DeBoer's 4th down gambles paid off in a major way in the 4th quarter. DeBoer went for it on 4th-and-8 inside the 40 and with Alabama leading by only three. The result was a dime of a throw by Ty Simpson to freshman WR Lotzeir Brooks. DeBoer didn't hesitate to go for it on 4th-and-goal from the one later on the drive, with Simpson hitting Daniel Hill for a touchdown to give the Crimson Tide a 10-point lead.
Alabama's offense struggled, particularly up front on the offensive line, and that led to too many empty possessions. For the second week in a row, the Crimson Tide struggled in plus-territory, something they're going to have to correct moving forward.
One of the keys to the game was the Alabama defense containing Missouri star RB Ahmad Hardy. Hardy came in as the nation's leading rusher, and he was held in check with just 52 yards on 12 carries. The defensive effort was far from perfect, but containing Hardy allowed Kane Wommack's unit to find success.
4-star TE commitment travels to see Alabama play on the road
4-star TE Mack Sutter, who committed to Alabama back in June, has had plenty of speculation surrounding his recruitment. Ohio State has been pushing hard to try and flip the Dunlap, Illinois native.
But Sutter's commitment appears as solid as ever. With the Buckeyes in town to play home-state Illinois, Sutter chose to travel to CoMo to watch the Crimson Tide play Missouri. Sutter is scheduled to be back in Tuscaloosa this weekend to watch Alabama play Tennessee.
As much as Ohio State will continue to push, Sutter seems solid with the Tide.
Alabama moves up to No. 6 in the AP Poll
After starting the season ranked No. 8 and then immediately falling down to No. 21 after the season-opening loss to Florida State, Alabama has worked its way all the way back up to No. 6 in the latest AP Poll after a fifth consecutive win.
Alabama is the highest-ranked one-loss team, deservedly so. Some might argue for Oregon, but while the Ducks have a better loss, the Crimson Tide have three better wins than any Oregon has so far. Alabama has beaten three ranked teams, all in a row, and will face a fourth straight this weekend against Tennessee.
Kalen DeBoer and the staff send a message to the offensive line
And it wasn't all that subtle. After a disappointing performance against Missouri, DeBoer and the staff chose not to award a lineman with the normal "offense-power" player of the week award. Instead, they handed out a second POTW for a special teams player.
That's a message to all eight offensive linemen who played that none of them were good enough this past weekend. Simpson had shockingly little time to throw, and it disrupted the entire flow of the offense. Alabama was held to just 325 yards as a result and had to scratch and claw its way to a victory that shouldn't have been that close.
Simpson has been as good as any QB in the country, and Alabama has as good a collection of skill players as anyone in the country. Saturday against Missouri was a reminder of how little all of that matters if the offensive line gets whipped.