3 things Alabama football fans need to know about Missouri before Saturday

Alabama football has not seen this version of Missouri football.

In the Crimson Tide’s last meeting against the Tigers, a 38-19 win in Columbia, Missouri, Sept. 26, 2020, Missouri was a perennial .500 squad, one that was in the first season under head coach Eli Drinkwitz.

Four seasons later, Missouri is a contender near the top of the SEC, responding to an 11-win 2023 campaign which included a Cotton Bowl win against Ohio State with six wins in their first seven games of 2024, including a comeback win against Auburn Saturday afternoon.

No. 15 Alabama will face No. 17 Missouri at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

Here are three things to know about the Tigers before their trip to Tuscaloosa Saturday.

Missouri faced injury struggles in Auburn win Saturday

For much of Missouri’s comeback win against Auburn Saturday, the Tigers were short handed.

Quarterback Brady Cook left Missouri’s 21-17 win after the opening series with an ankle injury, one that forced him to have a mid-game MRI done at a local hospital. After Drew Pyne took the reins of the offense at quarterback, Cook returned late in the third quarter and led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to beat the Tigers.

Missouri was also without starting running back Nate Noel for much of Saturday with a foot injury. Noel, the sixth-ranked rusher in the SEC after transferring from Appalachian State, was limited to six carries for 32 yards.

Cook, Noel and the Missouri offense average 31.7 points and 422.4 yards per game.

Missouri has one of the best pass defenses in the SEC

Missouri has one of the better pass defenses in the SEC.

Led by defensive back Daylan Carnell and cornerback Dreyden Norwood, the Tigers have allowed 157.6 passing yards per game, second best in the SEC behind Texas. Missouri has allowed six passing touchdowns in seven games, but has also generated five interceptions.

Missouri has allowed the second-least number of pass attempts in the SEC through seven games, with opponents averaging over 23 attempts per game. Much of that has to do with a schedule that includes Buffalo, Vanderbilt, Boston College,Texas A&M and Massachusetts: the best of which is ranked No. 91 nationally in passing offense.

Jalen Milroe and the Crimson Tide have the No. 37 passing offense nationally, averaging 259.7 passing yards per game.

Alabama football gets first look at Missouri WR Luther Burden

With Saturday being Missouri’s first meeting with the Crimson Tide since 2020, the Crimson Tide will soon be introduced to Luther Burden, the former five-star who has generated the reputation as one of the best wide receivers in the SEC.

A 5-foot-11, 205-pound wide receiver, Burden was the No. 3 player overall in the 2022 recruiting class behind Jackson State-turned-Colorado defensive back/wide receiver Travis Hunter and Texas A&M-turned-Ole Miss defensive lineman Walter Nolen. And in 2023, Burden showed why, finishing with 1,212 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

Through seven games, Burden has 447 receiving yards and six total touchdowns. But Burden does not have a touchdown catch since Sept. 21 against Vanderbilt.

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.