Alabama Football 2024 Opponents Preview continues with the Missouri Tigers

In previous posts about 2024 Alabama Football opponents, ranking the least challenging games was an easy task. In the earlier posts (beginning with the least difficult game for the Crimson Tide) were Mercer and Western Kentucky; followed by South Florida, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina. The Auburn Tigers were previewed as the Crimson Tide's seventh-toughest contest, followed by Wisconsin.

This preview profiles the Alabama Crimson Tide's fifth-toughest opponent, the Missouri Tigers. Except for the game being in Bryant-Denny, the Tigers could have been selected as the Tide's third or fourth toughest opponent.

Was Missouri a flash-in-the-pan team last season? The 11-2 record was impressive, with wins over Kansas State, Tennessee and Ohio State. The Buckeyes were somewhat short-handed in the Cotton Bowl and also short on enthusiasm, as well. Missouri's 36-7 thumping of Tennessee was impressive.

Going back to 2015, Missouri went eight seasons winning an average of 5.9 games each season. The record for Eli Drinkwitz's first three Missouri seasons was 17-19. Even with three of Eli's five head coaching seasons producing losing records, some college football experts consider him a quiet success story.

A larger number of college football experts are predicting Missouri will be a Playoff team. A big reason for such optimism is the Missouri schedule. The Tigers have a road game to College Station along with their Oct. 26 trip to Tuscaloosa. But Missouri does not play, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, or Tennessee.

Another plus for the Tigers is a returning production count of 71%. In the SEC, only Kentucky has higher returning production. Because of the Transfer Portal that stat does not mean what it once did, but it is still important. Much of Missouri's returning production is on offense. The Tigers lost starting cornerbacks to the NFL Draft, along with defensive lineman Darius Robinson being a first-round selection. Linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper was also drafted.

Missouri's offense is built on the Brady Cook to Luther Burden III duo. Burden is arguably college football's best wide receiver. To replace Cody Schrader's over 1,600 rushing yards, Drinkwitz will look to Georgia State transfer, Marcus Carroll and another transfer, speed back, Nate Noel from Appalachian State. Cook can also tuck the ball and run when needed.

Alabama Football vs. Missouri Tigers - Oct. 26, Bryant-Denny Stadium

Alabama should not and will not take Missouri lightly. The game is not a must-win for the Tigers, but they will be fired up for a possible statement win. It is too early to predict a score, but while Missouri can make the game interesting, the Tigers have little chance for an upset.

Note: Missouri stats provided by Sports Reference