Missouri Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide: Kickoff time, TV, five things to know
Missouri travels to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to play Alabama for the first time in its home city. The Tigers are 3-2 heading into Bryant-Denny Stadium and are massive underdogs against Nick Saban’s program. A win would arguably be the greatest upset in program history. But that’s hard to imagine given the Tigers’ recent play.
The details
Kickoff: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
TV: ESPN
Radio: KMBZ (98.1 FM)
The line: Alabama by 28
Five things to know
Alabama is No. 1 in scoring offense nationally: The Tide are putting up a ridiculous average of 56 points per game this season. Alabama is also No. 3 in the country in third down conversions at 59 percent. Safe to say, Saban’s team is good.
Bama has some familiar faces to Mizzou: Defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski was at Missouri for years and is essentially the founder of ‘D-Line Zou.’ He played for Saban at Toledo. Alabama’s starting tight end is Hale Hentges, a Jefferson City native that chose the Tide over Missouri.
Missouri’s defense isn’t all bad: The Tigers are No. 15 nationally in rushing defense, good for second in the SEC. Alabama has been airing the ball out more because of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s big arm, but the run game is the one thing Missouri could stop.
No one knows what to expect at wideout for Missouri: Odom meets with the media on Tuesday. Does Richaud Floyd return? Are Emanuel Hall and Nate Brown held out for precautionary reasons? Missouri had walk-ons make catches against South Carolina. Everything is on the table.
Drew Lock hasn’t thrown a touchdown since…: The first half against Purdue. He had a longer drought in 2015 of four games, but that won’t matter to NFL scouts. It hasn’t been a good few weeks for his draft stock.
Alex Schiffer
Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.
