Missouri Tigers football grades: Analysis from Mizzou’s shutout loss against Alabama
Mizzou held steady for much of the first half against Alabama, working with a manageable six-point deficit late into the half.
That is, until quarterback Brady Cook had to exit with an injury, and the ball was turned over to Drew Pyne. He committed three turnovers, and the Tigers were fully out of the game after halftime.
“There’s a lot of pride and a lot of fight in that locker room, and we’re all disappointed with the result,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “We all came with a plan to win and it wasn’t our day today.”
Here are our grades from the Tigers’ 34-0 loss in Tuscaloosa.
Mizzou offense
It’s hard to grade a shutout anything other than an “F.”
The Tigers totaled 239 yards behind Cook, who played injured until his departure from the game, and Pyne, who went 6-for-12 for just 42 yards.
Pyne threw an interception on his first drive of the game, which resulted in a Crimson Tide touchdown late in the first half. The momentum shifted right to Alabama afterward.
Grade: F
Mizzou defense
The Tigers’ defense was dealt a difficult hand given the turnovers, but Alabama knew exactly how to take advantage of it.
The Crimson Tide put up 486 yards of total offense and were efficient in their scoring drives, including a three-play drive for a touchdown after Pyne’s first interception.
Grade: D
Mizzou special teams
Blake Craig missed his lone field-goal attempt from 59 yards, and Luke Bauer punted seven times for an average of 44.7 yards. Overall, nothing really noteworthy from this unit this week, and the loss definitely wasn’t on special teams.
Grade: C
Area of improvement
The focus should be on getting Cook healthy.
As was evident against Auburn — and again vs. Alabama — Missouri is a different team when Cook is on the field. In the meantime, though, the turnovers continued to sting the Tigers. Alabama scored 14 points following Pyne interceptions.
“Obviously the turnovers really put us behind in the eight ball and put the defense into too many bad spots today,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ll get home, regroup, try to get healthy and on to the next game.”
Player of the game
Freshman RB Jamal Roberts put up 71 rushing yards on 17 carries on Saturday, stepping up in Nate Noel’s absence as he received more opportunities.
On a quiet day for Mizzou, he’s the player of the game.
