Missouri‘s 34-0 loss to Alabama on the road has pushed the Tigers toward the outside of the SEC Championship race after nine weeks.

Not only that, but Missouri was without quarterback Brady Cook for the majority of the matchup after injuring his hand early, not to mention dealing with a nagging injury from the week prior. With no ranked teams left on their regular season schedule, Mizzou’s College Football Playoff chances are farther away than ever before entering November.

“Friends, we have gathered on this Sunday morning to bid farewell to the University of Missouri,” Paul Finebaum said on SportsCenter in a segement called ‘Paul Bearers,’ where he had to put a team’s playoff chances to rest. “They are gone dead, dead and gone after yesterday. I realize they only have two losses, and some would say that’s not enough, but let me give you a few facts.

“They played two legitimate big time teams this year, [Texas] A&M and Alabama yesterday. They have lost by a combined 75-10. That means they’re gone. They don’t even have a good non-conference win. That would be Boston College unless you count UMass. So nice knowing you guys. I’m sorry about the injury to Brady Cook and everything else. You guys gave it the good old college try, but see you later.”

Despite the lopsided score, the Crimson Tide lead 13-0 at halftime after a low-scoring first half. Alabama received the second-half kickoff and marched down the field in six plays for a touchdown. Missouri would throw interceptions on its first two possessions of the second half, which lead to another score for the Crimson Tide.

Together, quarterbacks Brady Cook and backup Drew Pyne combined for 13 of 24 for 72 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Missouri was able to get the running game going, though, totaling 167 yards on 39 carries. Their only red zone trip resulted in a turnover on downs during the Tigers’ final possession of the game.

Looking ahead, Missouri does not play another ranked opponent and with losss to Texas A&M and Alabama in conference play, they’re smack in the middle of the SEC rankings and on the outside looking in on the conference title race.

The game may not have gone anywhere near how they had hoped or planned, but head coach Eli Drinkwitz was very consistent with his message following the Missouri Tigers crushing loss to No. 15 Alabama.

“We’ll get home, regroup, try to get healthy, and on to the next game,” Drinkwitz said following a 34-0 loss to the Crimson Tide.

The loss was the first shutout Missouri suffered since the 2019 season. The already struggling offense couldn’t put anything together. The closest Missouri got to scoring was a missed 59-yard field goal attempt and a goal-line run that was stuffed in the fourth quarter. Despite a strong first half, the defense showed holes in the second half that Alabama took advantage of.

“We all came with a plan to win, and it just didn’t happen,” Drinkwitz said. “It wasn’t our day today, and we’re not going to get divided, we’re not going to point fingers. We’re going to go back, get healthy this week and finish out this stretch.”

Their struggles were made worse by the astounding number of injuries that were announced leading up to and during the matchup. The Wednesday report included three players as doubtful, six as questionable and one as probable, this included their leading rusher and starting quarterback. The list was shortened by game time, but still contained wide receiver Mookie Cooper and running back Nate Noel as out and Brady Cook as a game-time decision.

The game was looking more hopeful after Cook was announced as the starter, but it didn’t take long for this hope to be dashed. Cook injured his hand on the helmet of another player and had to be removed for an x-ray. He did not return to the game.

“First off, we gotta get healthy over the bye week,” defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. said. “I feel like we gotta regroup as a team, look at the situation if Brady can come back or not.”

The question circling the Missouri Football team now is whether Cook will be able to get healthy for the rest of the season. The extent of his hand injury has not been announced, but before that, he was also dealing with a bad ankle that kept him out of the majority of the game against Auburn the week prior.

“There’s four SEC games left,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s a lot of football season left, and we just got to get home, get healthy, and flush this one and move on to the next one.”

The rest of the season may be looked at much differently if Cook is not able to return. The Tigers were only able to score six points over the last two game when backup quarterback Drew Pyne was in the game. He also threw three interceptions and was sacked in this time.

Despite all that went wrong for the Tigers, they players and coaches are choosing to remain optimistic for the rest of the season. They have emphasized viewing each play, each game as its own and moving on from the bad.

“Our season’s not over,” Walker said. “We have four or five games left and a bye week. Depending on what happens, playoffs or try to get a good bowl game. We’ll see what happens.”

Alabama has played in four straight nail-biting one-score games, struggling to pull away in each contest.

Last week, the 15th-ranked Crimson Tide lost to Tennessee, giving them little to no margin for error for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, No. 21 Missouri escaped with a four-point win over Auburn after trailing for most of the game to move to 6-1.

The two teams meet on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in a huge SEC matchup with plenty of College Football Playoff implications.

Alabama opened as a 13.5-point favorite and the spread has ballooned to the Crimson Tide laying 17 points. Meanwhile, the total got as high as 57 points before dropping to as low as 51.

Missouri vs. Alabama odds

When Missouri has the ball

The Tigers will be shorthanded on offense as quarterback Brady Cook and running back Nate Noel are doubtful on the injury report.

Last week, Cook left the game with a high-ankle sprain against Auburn, but he returned to help lead Missouri to the comeback win. If he’s out, it would be Drew Pyne, who completed just 47.6% of his passes and posted a dreadful 3.7 yards per attempt last week.

With Noel sidelined, the Tigers will rely heavily on Marcus Carroll. The App State transfer is averaging 4.7 yards per carry to Noel’s 6.1, but he has forced 15 missed tackles, per Pro Football Focus.

It will likely be tough sledding for him against a Crimson Tide run defense that ranks 16th in EPA per rush allowed.

Luther Burden III is one of the most talented wide receivers in the country, but he hasn’t made the same impact this year, and the downgrade at quarterback won’t help his case. He’s posted 90-plus receiving yards just once this season after doing so in eight of his 13 games last year.

The Crimson Tide secondary has been vulnerable to giving up explosives, but the Tigers rank just 94th in yards per drop-back allowed this season.

When Alabama has the ball

After showing incredible signs of progress over the first month of the season, Jalen Milroe has played two of the worst games of his career over the last two weeks. In those contests, he’s thrown four turnover-worthy plays with no big-time throws, and he’s completed just 1-of-8 deep passes.

Alabama has struggled to protect Milroe, which could be a real problem against a Tigers defense that ranks 23rd in havoc. The Tide, meanwhile, ranks 105th in havoc allowed.

It’s fair to note that the opposing schedule of quarterbacks hasn’t been elite, but Missouri ranks top-15 in EPA per pass and passing success rate allowed.

Alabama will likely also struggle to consistently run the ball against a defense that ranks in the top 25 in yards per rush allowed and tackling.

The Tide surprisingly ranks just 87th in rushing success rate on offense despite having a talented backfield headlined by Jam Miller and Justice Haynes, alongside Milroe’s rushing threat.

Missouri vs. Alabama pick

The Alabama defense has been heavily criticized. However, this looks like a get-right spot for Kane Wommack’s group against an offense missing its top quarterback and running back.

The Tigers have been underwhelming on offense, and it’s difficult to envision Pyne having much success on the road against a defense still loaded with talent.

Meanwhile, I don’t expect a barrage of scoring from Alabama against a defense that has maintained strong marks across the board under first-year DC Corey Batoon.

Betting on College Football?

Milroe will likely hit a couple of explosive plays through the air to Ryan Williams. Still, the down-to-down consistency won’t be there behind an offensive line that looks overmatched against a havoc-minded Tigers front.

The total has already dropped in response to Missouri’s injuries, but other aspects of this game still lead me to the under, and I’d play anything over the key number of 51.

Best bet: Under 51.5 points (-115, ESPN BET)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Jacob Wayne handicaps college football and the NFL for the New York Post. He’s up 84.5 units across the two sports with a 6.27% ROI.