COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 The Tide are reeling more than rolling these days, and there seems to be a bit more crimson in the water.
That鈥檚 the sense coming out of Tuscaloosa, anyway, with Alabama picking up its second loss before the month of November for the first time since Nick Saban鈥檚 2007 debut season.
After losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee this month, the No. 15 Crimson Tide (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) are having something of a reckoning. Their season is on the brink of disaster 鈥 and might already be there, by the program鈥檚 standards 鈥 and so 鈥橞ama鈥檚 focus is shifting.
鈥淕et back to what we鈥檙e supposed to wear, shirts tucked in, five minutes, 10 minutes early to meetings,鈥 Alabama tight end CJ Dippre told reporters this week about the team鈥檚 newfound priorities. 鈥淣ot all this late stuff. Not doing what you want to do. Just little things like that carry over to the football field. What if you take one wrong step, one wrong thing? It all carries over.鈥
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That the Tide鈥檚 shirts will perhaps be neatly tucked in come Saturday鈥檚 2:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC (KDNL, Channel 30 locally) won鈥檛 be the most intimidating part of the game for visiting No. 21 Missouri (6-1, 2-1 SEC). A homecoming crowd at 100,000-capacity Bryant-Denny Stadium will help with that effort.
As many suggested entering Kalen DeBoer鈥檚 first season at Alabama following the legendary Saban鈥檚 retirement, this might be the best year in a while to be a team playing the Crimson Tide. But fresh off Tigers鈥 nervy-but-gratifying comeback win over Auburn, Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz sidestepped an opportunity to be aggressive in his messaging, choosing to emphasize the talent plying its trade in Tuscaloosa.
鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 on to the next challenge,鈥 Drinkwitz said. 鈥淎nd boy is it a big challenge. ... They鈥檝e got elite players all over the field 鈥 top 100 players, top 100 draft picks on both sides of the football.鈥
The trendy name to know from Alabama is freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams, who, as you might have heard, is only 17 years old. He was born in February 2007 鈥 yes, 2007.
Williams hails from Mobile, Alabama, where he won the state鈥檚 Gatorade Player of the Year and Mr. Football awards during both his sophomore and junior high school seasons. He had five-star recruit status for the 2025 class but reclassified to enroll at 鈥橞ama a year earlier.
Despite his age, he鈥檚 had no problem acclimating to the college level. Williams has 31 catches for 649 yards and eight total touchdowns this season 鈥 the second-most receiving yards in the SEC.
His most impressive play of his career was a game-winning 75-yard score against then-No. 2 Georgia, when Williams cut back on a sideline route to catch a short throw, spun in seemingly no space or time, and beat two defenders to the pylon.
鈥淚 mean, if you鈥檙e 17, playing at this high of a level ...,鈥 Drinkwitz said, trailing off as he described Williams鈥 talent. 鈥淪pecial player, special talent, obviously. Aside from the size, ball skills, speed, quickness, agility, obviously attention to detail, obviously ability to retain information, I think there鈥檚 just a competitive spirit about him.鈥
The quarterback throwing the ball to Williams has had a hype train of his own but not one moving so unilaterally forward. Jalen Milroe, in his second season as a starter, has posted both Heisman-level and highly questionable performances so far this year.
In Alabama鈥檚 win over Georgia, Milroe completed 27 of his 33 passes for 374 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while rushing for 117 yards and two touchdowns. But since then, his numbers have trailed off.
The Tide are 1-2 in their past three games, in which Milroe鈥檚 completion percentage has declined week to week and he鈥檚 thrown five interceptions to three touchdown passes. In Alabama鈥檚 loss to Tennessee, Milroe threw 45 passes but completed only 55.6% of them, also tossing two picks and rushing for just 11 yards with no touchdowns on the ground.
That was the first game this season in which Milroe did not record at least one rushing touchdown 鈥 he has run for two in each of the Tide鈥檚 wins but only one in their loss to Vanderbilt and none in losing to the Vols.
Milroe鈥檚 11 rushing touchdowns are second in the SEC behind only Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson. That seems to be the part of Milroe鈥檚 game that has Missouri concerned.
鈥淚 think the biggest thing offensively that they鈥檝e done is designed quarterback runs,鈥 Drinkwitz said. 鈥淪pecifically in the red area, (those) have been huge difference makers for their team.鈥
Facing a dual-threat or run-happy quarterback is nothing new to the Tigers, who have faced more mobile quarterbacks than pocket passers this season. In that sense, Milroe is just continuing a trend.
鈥淚 feel like we have to approach him the same way we approached everyone else,鈥 defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. said. 鈥淚 believe we had success in the past doing it, and we can replicate it again.鈥
Milroe鈥檚 stats and arsenal sound threatening, but there鈥檚 been some discontent with his game among Alabama fans. And in something that has come up from time to time in Mizzou news conferences, Tide coach DeBoer has started getting questions about whether Milroe is healthy enough to play like a Heisman contender 鈥 or in 鈥橞ama鈥檚 situation, like someone who can win the rest of its games this season.
鈥淚 think at this point in the year, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 many guys who play a lot of snaps who don鈥檛 have something and just working through it,鈥 DeBoer said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 more than capable. As he goes through the week, you鈥檙e just ready to play on Saturday. There鈥檚 nothing that鈥檚 going to be holding him back from going out there and being able to help us get a win. I鈥檓 confident of that.鈥