For Alabama football to get back on track after a disheartening season-opening loss to Florida State, it was going to take a big change. That change has come from head coach Kalen DeBoer.
The mild-mannered second-year Crimson Tide is moving differently these days in Tuscaloosa. He's unafraid to get on his players - in front of the entire world watching - and he's never fully satisfied with the team's performance, even when they come away with a road win over the No. 14 team in the country.
There's not a relief when Alabama pulls out close wins. DeBoer is left wondering now what the team could have done better. And don't get it twisted: Alabama could have done a lot of things better on Saturday, despite beating a good team on the road.
DeBoer knows that. So does his quarterback. Ty Simpson did not sound like the quarterback of the winning team when he spoke to the media after the game.
DeBoer was proud of his team's resiliency in making the plays it needed to make in order to win the football game, but DeBoer and Simpson both know that this was a game that should not have been nearly as close as it turned out to be.
"Even though we made some plays in critical moments at the end, we also could have done a better job, I think, of really putting the game away at other times throughout the game," DeBoer told the media.
Alabama's missed opportunities allowed Missouri to stay in the game
For the second week in a row, Alabama had an opportunity to really blow a game open and didn't take advantage of it. That's going to be a problem that ends up biting them in the butt at some point if they can't develop that killer instinct to step on the other team's neck.
Leading 17-10 at the start of the third quarter, Alabama opened the half by immediately turning the ball over. Simpson was sacked and fumbled, and three plays later, the game was tied.
Alabama had to settle for a field goal late in the third quarter after getting a 1st-and-goal at the 1 after Kadyn Proctor converted a third-and-short. Simpson fell down on the handoff to Jam Miller, which was a walk-in touchdown overturned on review, and Alabama could do nothing from there.
After a Bray Hubbard interception, Alabama missed a field goal when they were looking to go up two scores. It took a turnover-on-downs and some gutsy 4th down play calls by DeBoer for Alabama to finally build a two-score lead.
All of that doesn't even mention the turnover opportunities missed by Alabama's defense. Dijon Lee dropped a first-half interception. Missouri fumbled twice, and Alabama couldn't jump on either. Keon Sabb had a free run at Beau Pribula and instead of hitting him for a sack, tried to swipe the football instead, and Pribula escaped for a good run.
These missed opportunities didn't cost Alabama on Saturday in CoMo. They very well could cost the Crimson Tide in a close game sometime soon.
On the bright side, Alabama got a win over a quality opponent in a game they really didn't play all that well. That's a good sign, and if this team can get some things corrected and play to their potential, then they have a real shot at going a long way.