Alabama
Alabama football Week 7 opponent preview: Missouri Tigers
On Saturday afternoon, the Alabama Crimson Tide will face a very talented Missouri Tigers team in Columbia.
Led by the nation’s leading rusher, this is certainly a challenging game for the Crimson Tide going in, as not only are the Tigers one of the SEC’s top teams, but Missouri also gets this contest as a home 11 a.m. CT kickoff coming off a bye week.
Taking a deeper look at Missouri as well, Eliah Drinkwitz’s Tigers have consistently been among the SEC’s top teams since the 2023 season, and will be looking to continue yet another strong start Saturday with a win over Alabama.
Here is everything you need to know about the Missouri Tigers entering Saturday’s game against Alabama.
Missouri Tigers 2025 team overview
- Conference: SEC
- Stadium: Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium, Columbia, Missouri
- Record: 5-0 overall (1-0 SEC)
- Ranking: No. 14 in US LBM Coaches Poll, No. 14 in AP Poll
Missouri enters Saturday’s contest sitting at an undefeated 5-0 overall this season, while also 1-0 in SEC play. At the moment, Missouri is ranked as the nation’s No. 14 overall team in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll.
Missouri Tigers 2025 coaching staff
- Head Coach: Eliah Drinkwitz
- Offensive Coordinator: Kirby Moore
- Defensive Coordinator: Corey Batoon
Missouri is currently in year six of the Eliah Drinkwitz era where the Tigers own a combined 43-24 record since the 2020 season. Kirby Moore has been the offensive coordinator at Missouri since 2023, while Corey Batoon is in his second season in Columbia on the defensive side of the ball.
Missouri Tigers 2025 offensive stats
- Points Per Game: 45.2 (No. 7 in FBS)
- Total Yards Per Game: 547.6
- Passing Yards Per Game: 255.6
- Rushing Yards Per Game: 292
Missouri enters Saturday with one of college football’s top offenses averaging 45.2 points per game, a number that ranks No. 7 nationally. The Tigers also rank No. 1 in the SEC with an average of 547.6 total yards per game, as well as tops in rushing at 292, a total that leads the conference by far.
Missouri Tigers 2025 defensive stats
- Points Per Game Allowed: 14.6 (No. 16 in FBS)
- Total Yards Per Game Allowed: 203.8
- Passing Yards Per Game Allowed: 141.4
- Rushing Yards Per Game Allowed: 62.4
Defensively, the Tigers are allowing only 14.6 points per game to opponents, a number which ranks No. 16 in the FBS, as well as among the lowest in the SEC. Missouri also ranks second in the SEC with only 203.8 total yards allowed per game to opponents, are No. 3 with 141.4 yards allowed through the air, and lead the conference with only 62.4 rushing yards allowed per game.
Missouri Tigers 2025 offensive players to know
- Ahmad Hardy, Running Back, Sophomore
- Beau Pribula, Quarterback, Graduate Student
- Kevin Coleman Jr., Wide Receiver, Senior
- Brett Norfleet, Tight End, Junior
- Marquis Johnson, Wide Receiver, Junior
Missouri’s offense is led by running back Ahmad Hardy, a sophomore who currently leads college football with 730 total rushing yards this season, while also tops in the SEC with nine touchdowns on the ground. The Tigers feature Beau Pribula at quarterback, who is leading the SEC with a 75.9% completion percentage, while Kevin Coleman Jr. leads a talented group of pass catchers.
Missouri Tigers 2025 defensive players to know
- Josiah Trotter, Linebacker, Redshirt Sophomore
- Zion Young, Defensive End, Senior
- Damon Wilson II, Defensive End, Junior
- Jalen Catalon, Safety, Graduate Student
- Nicholas Rodriguez, Linebacker, Sophomore
Lastly, Missouri’s defensive players to know are headlined by the duo of linebacker Josiah Trotter and defensive end Zion Young, both of which are tied for the team lead with six TFL this season. Damon Wilson II is also a prominent name to know entering Saturday, as the junior defensive end leads the Tigers with 3.5 sacks this season.
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Welcome to BamaCentral’s “Just a Minute,” a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI’s beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.
Watch the above video as BamaCentral baseball beat reporter Theodore Fernandez reflects on the first two months of Alabama baseball’s season and explains why the team has left much to be desired despite success on the field.
At face value, this has been a successful campaign for Alabama baseball. Entering the final four weeks of the regular season, a Crimson Tide team that was projected to finish No. 13 in the SEC is 9-9 in conference play, and just one game out of fourth place. The first sweep of Auburn in more than a decade, the Frisco Classic title, and a road series win over Oklahoma are big-time results that speak to the potential Alabama clearly possesses.
But it continues to appear increasingly likely that this team may not realize that potential.
There are issues up and down the roster. The bulk of the attention has been on Justin Lebron’s struggles. His career-high in errors and underwhelming offensive numbers have led to his draft stock beginning to fall, and it led to him even being experimentally moved out of the two-hole for a game against Arkansas.
Players like Luke Vaughn and Jason Torres have struggled, and there is still a significant amount of regular roster experimentation occurring on a week-to-week basis. Will Plattner, Justin Osterhouse, Chase Kroberger, Andrew Purdy and Peyton Steele are all among the players who have started games over the past two weekends and still appear to have undefined roles.
The biggest question remains the bullpen, as it is nearly impossible to predict what it will provide on any given day. There was a two-weekend stretch where it gave up just five earned runs over 22.1 combined innings against Auburn and Oklahoma, willing Alabama to wins in games where the bats did not show up. Then there have been the lows: implosions against Arkansas and Texas that cast serious doubt on the unit’s ability to show up in big moments.
In all of those areas where the team has struggled, there is hope of a turnaround. There are the bullpen’s aforementioned elite stretches. There are the web-gem plays in short by Lebron, that will leave him with one of the most impressive defensive highlight reels of any player in the nation. There’s Torres responding to a 1-for-12 weekend against the Razorbacks with a two-hit game where he drove in one of Alabama’s two runs to avoid a sweep against Texas last Sunday.
In a sport defined by randomness, where the thinnest of margins can mean the difference between going home in a regional or making a run to Omaha, we simply have no way of knowing where Alabama will land.
Would we really expect it any other way?
That’s baseball.
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A “joyful” 10-year-old Alabama girl was found dead soon after being reported missing — with another juvenile charged with her murder.
Katheryn Bigbee, 10, was reported missing just before 11 p.m. Friday, when police were called to an undisclosed address in Calhoun County, AL.com reported.
“Officers responded immediately to the residence,” Piedmont Police Chief Nathan Johnson said in a statement. “They tragically discovered a deceased juvenile inside the home.”
It remains unclear where the house was, or whether it was the young girl’s family home — but another juvenile was soon taken into custody and hit with murder charges.
Their identity and connection to Bigbee have not been disclosed due to their age.
Bigbee’s cause of death also remains unclear, with police saying the investigation was still ongoing.
“Our family has been torn to pieces, and we have lost the most amazing, sweetest little girl,” relative Blake Trammel wrote on Facebook.
“She was a light in any room she walked into. I cannot express the pain, guilt, and emptiness that has come from all of this. We don’t have answers, only more questions,” he added.
The girl’s school also recalled her as a beloved member of its community.
“Our entire Piedmont Elementary School family is grieving as we remember a sweet little girl who brought smiles, kindness, and a bright light to our halls each day,” the school said in a statement.
“Katheryn had a joyful, spunky personality that made her truly special,” the school said. “She was an enthusiastic reader and will be remembered for the happiness she shared so freely.”
“She will always be a part of our school family, and her memory will live on in the hearts of her classmates, teachers, and all who knew and loved her.”
Alabama AHSAA softball key dates and top teams approaching the 2026 playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Alabama’s AHSAA softball playoffs are just around the corner with three of the state’s top teams ranked in the national Top 15.
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The No. 5 Orange Beach [AL] Makos, No. 10 Thompson [Alabaster, AL] Warriors, and No. 15 Wetumpka [AL] Indians are all ranked in the most recent edition of the MaxPreps Top 50 with the start of Alabama’s postseason less than two weeks away.
Orange Beach was previously ranked No. 1 before losing to the South Warren [Bowling Green, KY] Spartans last week. Both teams were undefeated going into the contest, and the Barbers Hill [Mt. Belvieu, TX] Eagles took the Makos’ place at the top of the rankings following the loss.
WATCH: ALABAMA AHSAA SOFTBALL ON THE NFHS NETWORK
Key dates for the Alabama AHSAA softball playoffs
|
DATE |
PLAYOFF DEADLINES |
|
5/1-5/26 |
Area Tournaments |
|
5/11-14/26 |
Regional Tournaments |
|
5/18-22/26 |
State Tournaments |
National Top 50 contenders by classification
Alabama’s three nationally-ranked teams all compete in different classifications.
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Class 7A
The Thompson Warriors are 34-1-2, and they compete in the AHSAA’s top-level Class 7A ranks. The team’s only loss is to the No. 15 Wetumpka Indians in a 3-2 setback on April 3.
Class 6A
Wetumpka is 34-5, and as noted above, they are the only team to beat Thompson so far.
Class 4A
Orange Beach is the state’s top-ranked team despite competing at the AHSAA’s Class 4A level. Their loss to South Warren of Kentucky in a 6-1 setback on April 9 ended a 45-game win streak at the time. The Makos had only allowed 25 runs all season prior to the relative outburst by the Spartans.
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