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Joel Klatt expects Alabama to play best game of year vs. ‘overrated’ Missouri
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Joel Klatt likes Alabama at home against Missouri on Saturday.
The 15th-ranked Crimson Tide host the 21st-ranked Tigers in a battle between 2 SEC contenders who have underwhelmed this season. Even though it sits at 5-2, Kalen DeBoer is working on one of the worst starts to a season in recent Alabama history. The Tide are already set to take multiple losses into the month of November for the first time in a season since 2007. Missouri had an awful outing the last time it went on the road in league play and narrowly escaped Auburn last weekend.
On his podcast this week, Klatt said rather confidently that Alabama will play its best game of the season at home against the Tigers.
“The sense of urgency is going to be there for Alabama,” the FOX analyst said. “I think you’re going to see Alabama play one of their best games of the season this week. They’re at home. They’re going to be playing a team in Missouri that I don’t love, to be quite honest with you. I think that they (Missouri) are completely overrated at 21, and they’ve got a quarterback in Brady Cook that is banged up.”
Cook left last week’s game with an ankle injury, took a brief trip to the hospital to have an MRI done, then returned to the game and led Missouri to a victory. Klatt called the performance gutsy, but also said that Cook, if he plays, will be in a tough spot.
And it’s not even a given he plays. The team’s official injury report listed him as doubtful on Thursday. Missouri could be without as many as 5 offensive starters in the game.
Not exactly the best situation to be walking into.
“This Alabama team is going to be playing for their life. Brady Cook is going to look across the field and see a Bama defense that is playing for its life,” Klatt said. “The sense of urgency, this is a wild animal backed into a corner. You will absolutely get Bama’s best in this game. I firmly believe that.”
The Alabama defense was run ragged in the second half of the Georgia game on Sept. 28 and then against Vanderbilt a week later in a defeat. In recent weeks, though, it has been the Alabama offense that was worn down.
The Tide scored what was then a season-low 27 points in a 2-point win over South Carolina on Oct. 12. Then they followed that outing up with a 17-point day in the road loss to Tennessee last week.
Missouri’s defense makes teams work for it. The Tigers are 15th nationally in passing success rate allowed and 16th in rushing success rate allowed, per Game on Paper. They force teams to be methodical, presenting a potentially advantageous matchup against an Alabama offense that gets chunk gains or nothing.
Still, Klatt likes the Tide to win convincingly.
“I’m looking at this and unless Missouri can just kill them with the downfield passing attack, I just don’t love Missouri in this game at all really,” Klatt said. “There is no way 13.5 is enough. The only time Missouri has traveled on the road in the SEC this year, they got blown out by 31 by Texas A&M.”
Klatt predicted a score of 38-21 in favor of Alabama, and he said that prediction was generous toward Missouri.
The 2 sides are set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC this Saturday. Alabama is a 17.5-point favorite at FanDuel.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
