Two truths and a lie about Alabama football following win over Missouri

Alabama football bounced back in a big way with a 34-0 win over Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa to move to 6-2 (3-2) on the season and keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive heading into the second and final bye week of the season.

It was a difficult October for the Crimson Tide that saw the team drop two road games and finish the month at just 2-2. Alabama was stunned in Nashville with a loss to a Vanderbilt team that keeps looking better and better as the season progresses. After beating South Carolina, Alabama struggled in a 24-17 loss in Knoxville to rival Tennessee to put its playoff hopes on life support.

Alabama absolutely had to beat Missouri last weekend, and they got the job done to regain a little bit of momentum as the calendar flips to November.

Coming off of the bye week, Alabama heads to Baton Rouge to take on LSU in Death Valley in what will be a playoff elimination game between the Tide and Tigers. Before we get there, though, let's take a look back and examine two truths and a lie about Alabama football after Saturday's win:

Two Truths about Alabama Football

1. The Alabama defense continues to improve

The Alabama defense has been much maligned this season, with the blunt of the vitriol from the fanbase being directed toward defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and his 4-2-5 scheme.

It hasn't been the easiest transition after the Crimson Tide ran Nick Saban's defensive scheme for 17 years. There was always going to be some growing pains, made worse by what Alabama lost via the NFL Draft and the transfer portal. In particular, we should have all expected some struggles in the secondary with so many freshmen seeing meaningful snaps.

But with what Wommack has had to work with, it's sort of remarkable that Alabama ranks 11th in the country in yards-per-play defense. Critics of Wommack have probably been too harsh, and most of the criticism is based upon one porous performance in Nashville in the loss to Vanderbilt.

Outside of the Vanderbilt loss, Alabama's defense has been good. Yes, they struggled in the second half against Georgia, particularly getting off the field on fourth down, but made plays when needed and forced Carson Beck into turnovers that ultimately swung the game in the Tide's favor.

The defense made enough plays to beat Tennessee, but was completely let down by the offense in Knoxville.

Against Missouri, the Tide's defense needed virtually nothing from the offense as they shut out the Tigers.

You can tell the players believe in Wommack. All you need to do is watch the reaction following the goal line stand in the fourth quarter to preserve the shutout.

2. This is what the running game should look like every week

There is no logical reason for the struggles Alabama has had running the football. With a dynamic runner at quarterback in Jalen Milroe, three capable running backs in Jam Miller, Justice Haynes, and Richard Young, and a big offensive line that has at least four future pros starting, it's been a big mystery as to why the Crimson Tide has struggled so mightily to move the football on the ground.

I think a big part of that has been the play calling being too quick to abandon the run after early struggles. A lot of times your ground game will take some time to get going, and in the second half of games it can really be a weapon as the opposing defense begins to tire. Alabama's offense has been too boom-or-bust this season, and that has prevented it from wearing down the opposition to the point the offensive line can start leaning on the opponent in the second half.

But that's what happened on Saturday afternoon against Missouri. Alabama's ground game struggled in the first half, but thanks to the defense forcing so many three-and-outs and three turnovers, Missouri's defense began to tire and Alabama was able to sustain drives.

The offensive balance was much better with Alabama running the ball 37 times to 26 passes versus the 45 passes to 35 runs against Tennessee. That's the balance this offense needs to be successful. Alabama managed 271 yards on 7.3 yards-per-carry against the Tigers.

It was the best game for Justice Haynes, finally having his breakout performane against an SEC opponent highlighted by an angry touchdown run in the 4th quarter.

Fellow sophomore Richard Young made his case for more playing time, too, with a 62 yard run in the 4th quarter behind the backup offensive line.

LSU's defense has struggled with running quarterbacks, so Alabama needs to lean on Milroe and the backs moving the ball on the ground in Baton Rouge in two weeks. This is the identity of this offense if Alabama wants to make the College Football Playoff.

The Lie:

Put an asterisk on this win because of Missouri injuries

At this time of the year in college football, everyone is dealing with injuries. Look at Alabama, for example, that has had numerous injuries in an already thin secondary and lost Keon Sabb to a foot injury that could keep him out for the rest of the season.

The fact is, Missouri was without its starting running back Nate Noel, which is not an insignificant loss. It's no more significant than Alabama losing Sabb, though.

Brady Cook started the game. He wasn't 100%, but I'm convinced, regardless of what he or the coaching staff says, that neither is Milroe. Cook was healthy enough to play in the game and was completely ineffective against a swarming Crimson Tide defense. He played all but the final drive of the first half for the Tigers and the offense didn't move the ball any better with him than they did once he was out and Drew Pyne was in.

Missouri still had two elite weapons at wide receiver in Luther Burden and Theo Wease, but the Crimson Tide completely smothered the talented duo. The two combined for 5 catches for 22 yards. They were bottled up regardless of the creative ways the Tigers tried to get them involved.

The season is far too short to be negative about a 34-0 win over an SEC opponent. There's only five more guaranteed games to watch Alabama Football between now and next September - four in the regular season and at least one postseason game of some sort.

Try to enjoy them because you'll be missing them when they're gone.