Alabama Football: 5 Observations on the Missouri Game

For the first time since probably the Wisconsin game, the vast majority of Alabama fans were truly satisfied after watching the Tide dismantle Mizzou at home. Joyless Murderball returned for a week. With the Tigers unable to get anything going on offense, Alabama's running backs got 22 carries that turned into 190 yards Richard Young aka Ricky Ortiz Providing the late exclamation mark.

And we can't let Judge Haynes miss that.

The starters even made a late stand at the goal line to maintain a 34-0 shutout, giving the over 100,000 fans in the crowd reason to cheer. The result was far from perfect, but the effort was there.

A few impressions:

The discipline was much better compared to recent trends.

Alabama's penalties were still excessive at seven for 85 yards, but it's fair to say that at least three of them were questionable. There was a patently absurd personal foul on LT Overton for sacking Brady Cook when he thought the game was still live, and a similarly horrific foul on Kendrick Law for blocking when he thought the ball was live , after a punt at Alabama apparently hit a Mizzou player in the foot. The coaching staff probably doubted that this play would have been a successful challenge.

Tyler Booker was also asked to keep what looked like a great pancake block, and the replay of a chop block calling Booker and Parker Brailsford was never shown.

Overall, Alabama played a pretty clean game in this game. If they continue like this, all their goals will still be ahead of them. There was a lot of talk about the team's leadership group getting stronger and demanding better this week. Something worked for a week.

As advertised, Alabama's vicious defensive system leads to constant turnovers.

It will take a while for Alabama fans to get used to a defensive strategy that tends to allow some relatively easy yards between the 20s in exchange for limiting explosive plays and turnovers, especially when there have been errors in execution that some which made explosive plays possible should not happen.

Still, this defense does its job in the turnover department. Alabama has now forced 18 turnovers in eight games, including 14 in the last five. In four of those five games, the Tide forced at least three turnovers, allowing flawless play only against a Vanderbilt team that consistently managed to convert on third-and-long while keeping the ball out of harm's way.

The errors in execution weren't really visible against Missouri, but the Tigers also couldn't pass the ball at all. The Tide went after weak Brady Cook like they should have, and it's a little confusing that Drew Pyne is still getting a free quarterback education at an FBS school. However, if Alabama can reduce the number of big plays and penalties that have allowed so many conversions in recent games while continuing to take the ball away, the sky is the limit.

Jalen Milroe's accuracy was better, but the passing game was still out of sync.

Milroe completed 62% of his passes this week for 8.3 yards per attempt, with no touchdown passes or interceptions. On a day when Alabama's running game could carry the offense, Jalen became your prototypical game manager. It's unlikely that such a strategy will work at Red Stick in a few weeks, even though LSU has struggled with its rushing defense, simply because one would expect the Tigers to put some points on the board.

Alabama missed a few explosive plays because of near misses or communication issues. Milroe has never been a pinpoint accuracy guy and probably never will be. He usually throws a ball that is catchable and good enough for the space his running ability provides, especially in the backfield. Both Kobe Prentice and Ryan Williams had deep balls that were just out of reach, and toward the end of the game, Williams kept running when it looked like Milroe was expecting to sit in a zone.

These two near misses are plays that could very easily go the other way in future games, and Alabama will need the explosive passes to come back if they want to advance to the playoffs.

The tackles still had issues in pass protection.

Kadyn Proctor and Elijah Pritchett held their own most of the time, but Milroe was smoked at least once each. It took a while to get the running game going as well, but they did it. Pritchett will likely be good for a few bargains per game, but we need Proctor to be the potential top-five pick he was promised coming out of high school.

Graham Nicholson looked elite and James Burnip remains one too.

Nicholson calmly split the uprights down the middle on his two field goal attempts, which will hopefully allay some fears. In some ways, I think he, like his head coach and quarterback, is a victim of his size. Alabama may never have Will Reichard again, but Nicholson's record as a college placekicker is outstanding and there seems to be little reason for Alabama fans to worry about mid-range field goals. He doesn't have the NFL leg of Reichard and probably shouldn't be kicking 50+, which just means DeBoer needs to try more often. That's not a bad thing.

Burnip is still a weapon.

Alabama now heads into the bye week and will likely determine its own fate as far as the playoffs are concerned. Combine a win in Baton Rouge with the win over Georgia and you end up in the SEC's top four with two losses, including one in Nashville against a Vandy team that the committee will surely value more than the casuals, and they get it almost certainly an offer.

At best, this team can beat anyone in the country. In the worst case scenario, they are more vulnerable than they were a few years ago. This is something we're seeing across sports, as unrestricted free agency makes building programs far more difficult than before, which is likely a key reason Nick Saban is now on TV and not just on the sidelines. Just this week at Vandy, Texas was struggling just like Alabama, and Ohio State trailed by 3 in the fourth quarter to a Nebraska team that had lost 49 the week before.

Alabama is one of the few teams that has the talent to win a playoff tournament, but they need to use this off week to scout themselves and develop a winning game plan for a high-stakes elimination game. Enjoy your stress-free football watching next weekend because the next one will be exciting.

Hope for the best.

Roll Tide.