It was a slow start for the Alabama football offense, but the defense completely smothered Missouri all afternoon as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 34-0 win over the Tigers to improve to 6-2 (3-2) on the season and keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
Alabama managed a field goal on its opening drive of the game, but sputtered following that and held just a 3-0 lead late into the second quarter. The middle eight of this game turned it from a defensive slugfest into a rout.
Graham Nicholson added his second field goal of the day from 39-yards out to give Alabama a 6-0 lead. Following a Malachi Moore interception of Missouri backup QB Drew Pyne, the offense paid it off with a three yard touchdown run by Jalen Milroe to go to the half with a 13-0 lead.
Brady Cook started the game for Missouri, but even he was ineffective against a swarming defense before leaving with a hand injury. The Tigers were drawing dead with Pyne, who threw three interceptions before being replaced by third-stringer JR Blood.
Alabama got the ball to open the second half and immediately went on a 6-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown run by Milroe for his second of the day to effectively put the game away.
Jam Miller and Justice Haynes added touchdown runs in the second half as Alabama cruised to, finally, a stress-free victory.
3 Takeaways from Alabama's dominant win:
3. Kane Wommack is figuring it out with this defense
Until garbage time where Alabama brought in the second and third stringers, Alabama's defense put forth a dominant effort that surely made Nick Saban proud as he watched from his box.
Alabama forced three turnovers, picking off Pyne three times. Malachi Moore, newly minted starter Bray Hubbard, and Qua Russaw got the interceptions.
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack caught a lot of grief following a difficult second half against Georgia, a rough game in Nashville in the Vanderbilt loss, and an up-and-down afternoon against South Carolina.
But the defense played plenty well enough to win the game against Tennessee a week ago, but was completely let down by an inept offense. Against Missouri, the Tide's defense didn't give the offense a chance to blow it. They shut down Missouri from the opening whistle, setting the tone of the game with back-to-back three-and-outs to open the game.
And you could tell what it meant to the defense to preserve the shutout at the end of the game. The backups held on the first three downs, and Wommack brought the starters back for the fourth down to turn Missouri away and keep them out of the endzone.
Wommack deserves a lot of credit for his work with this defense and his willingness to adapt his playcalling. The unit has limitations, especially on the back end with a young and banged-up secondary, but they seem to have turned the corner.
2. Alabama got the ground game going, finally
It was more of the same early as Alabama struggled to open up holes for Miller and Haynes. But Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan didn't go away from it after early struggles. They kept going back to it, and it ultimately paid off as the Crimson Tide was able to lean on Missouri in the second half.
It helped, of course, that Alabama's defense swarmed all over the Missouri offense and kept them from sustaining any drives.
Justice Haynes in particular showed the promise that made him a five-star recruit after what had been an uneven sophomore season for him. He had two big runs in the second half and ultimately finished with 79 yards on eight attempts, including a 35-yard touchdown run for the Crimson Tide's final scoring play of the day.
In total, it was Alabama's best rushing day since the season opener against Western Kentucky. Alabama ran the ball for 271 yards on 37 attempts for a 7.3 yards-per-carry average. It looked like the Crimson Tide was finally establishing an identity on the offensive side of the ball.
1. This version of Alabama is a playoff team
Not since the win over Wisconsin in week 3 had Alabama played a complete football game like this. We saw spurts, like the first half against Georgia where the Tide broke out to a 28-0 lead and led 30-7 at halftime. But they had to hang on for dear life in the second half of the game to escape Saban Field with a win.
Then came three consecutive hiccups, a loss to Vanderbilt, a close home win over South Carolina, and a loss last week to Tennessee. Alabama talked the talk heading into this game, much like they had following the Vanderbilt loss, but the team walked the walk on Saturday afternoon against the 21st ranked Tigers.
In fairness, this was a severly limited Missouri team, at least offensively. Cook gave it a go but was ineffective before suffering another injury. Pyne was really bad when he played, but Alabama did what it should have done against an overmatched opponent, something we've seen unfortunately little of this season.
But this should give the team a renewed sense of confidence as they head into a bye week before a massive game in Baton Rouge against LSU in two weeks where everything will be on the line.