TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama, a staple of the College Football Playoff’s first decade as a four-team event, was in danger of being an afterthought for this year’s inaugural 12-team bracket by November after a rough run for most of October.
Well, don’t count the Crimson Tide out just yet.
Jamarion Miller rushed for two touchdowns, and No. 15 Alabama’s defense had three interceptions in a 34-0 victory Saturday over No. 21 Missouri, which played most of the game without starting quarterback Brady Cook.
The Tide (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) bounced back strongly from their second loss in three weeks with their playoff hopes on the line. They had already lost multiple games before November for the first time since 2007, but they took this one handily after the Tigers (6-2, 2-2) lost Cook to a right hand injury late in the first half. It was 6-0 at the time.
Alabama was coming off a loss at Tennessee last weekend, a down-to-the-wire win over South Carolina before that and a stunning defeat at Vanderbilt on the first Saturday of the month.
“Knowing what we have going on this week, we really understand we’ve just got to play Bama mentality football,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “That was just the main goal.”
Jalen Milroe was 16-of-26 passing for 215 yards for Alabama. He also ran for 50 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown when he bounced off a blocker and reversed field, as well as a 32-yarder to set up his score.
Miller scored on runs of 3 and 11 yards, and Justice Haynes added a 35-yard touchdown run for Alabama.
Missouri backup quarterback Drew Pyne was 6-of-12 for 42 yards with all three interceptions. Cook had just 30 passing yards when he was injured.
“They took an X-ray and didn’t feel like they were comfortable with him continuing,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said.
Alabama preserved its second shutout of the season — and first against an SEC opponent since a 41-0 win over Mississippi State in 2020 — with a late goal-line stand in addition to the forced turnovers.
“They’re hunting it. They’re anticipating it a little bit,” said Kalen DeBoer, who was able to halt a slide in his first season as the successor to longtime Alabama coach Nick Saban. “A little bit more of an attacking mindset, not so much on their heels. Wanted them to really get that shutout there.”
Pyne’s first pass was intercepted and returned 31 yards by Malachi Moore. That resulted in the only touchdown of the first half on Miller’s 3-yarder for a 13-0 lead.
“Offensively, just with Brady’s injury, we just couldn’t ever get in rhythm,” Drinkwitz said. “And obviously the turnovers really put us behind the eight-ball and just put the defense in too many bad spots today.”
The teams were a combined 0-for-12 on third-down conversions in the first half, but Alabama finally started piling up yards to outgain Missouri 486-239, including 271 on the ground.
Haynes ran for 79 yards and Miller added 48, while Richard Young had a 62-yard run on the Tide’s final drive. The running backs helped take some of the load off the dual-threat Milroe, who had only 57 rushing yards with five interceptions over the previous three games.
“Every quarterback needs a good run game so the whole weight of everything isn’t on one guy’s shoulders,” DeBoer said.
That included Missouri’s Pyne, who got most of the first-team repetitions in practice leading up to the game. Cook had been listed as questionable on the SEC’s availability reports until the final update some 90 minutes before kickoff, when it was changed to game-time decision.
Cook was hurt on the opening series last week against Auburn. He returned late in the third quarter after an MRI and led his team to two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 21-17 comeback victory.
The offense sputtered with Cook on Saturday — and was worse without him as Pyne struggled.
“He’s trying to win the game,” Drinkwitz said of the backup’s interceptions. “He’s trying to put us in a position to get back into the game. And I understand that, but we just can’t put the ball into jeopardy in those situations. Ultimately, it’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job coaching us up in those situations and not put it on him.”
Running back Nate Noel was also out with an injury for Missouri, which had its playoff hopes squashed after opening the season in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll. The Tigers are off next week before hosting Oklahoma.
Alabama kept its playoff chances alive with only one more game remaining on its regular-season schedule against a team currently ranked, with the Tide traveling to No. 8 LSU on Nov. 9 after next week’s open date.