Alabama Football: 3 bold predictions for Week 7 Missouri matchup

Undefeated and top-ranked Alabama football heads back to Tuscaloosa this week for homecoming against the Missouri Tigers.

Alabama football has yet to be tested so far this season, bullying its way through the first six games with an average margin of victory of 40 points per game. No team thus far has been able to stay within three touchdowns of Nick Saban’s crew, thanks in large part to having the Heisman front-runner at quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa.

The schedule hasn’t provided many opportunities for challenges yet, with the Tide having played the 59th ranked schedule in the land to this point according to Jeff Sagarin. Through six games, Alabama has only played one team that ranks in the top 25 of Bill Connelly’s S&P+ rankings, and that was Texas A&M, who is the only team yet to have shown any resistance to the Crimson Tide’s death machine.

Missouri will be the second Top-25 team in the S&P+ rankings the Crimson Tide has faced this season, currently checking in at 23rd in this week’s rankings. The Tigers come to Tuscaloosa at 3-2, and 0-2 in the SEC in desperate need of a conference win as they come to the end of this current three-game gauntlet.

Missouri has lost back-to-back games, dropping a home game to No. 2 Georgia by two touchdowns and then last week’s two-point loss at home to South Carolina that was played during a monsoon.

Don’t let the two touchdown defeat to Georgia fool you — the Tigers were extremely competitive in that game and had a couple bounces go against them that kept it from being a much closer outcome.

There was a controversial defensive touchdown in the first quarter for Georgia when Missouri was driving where it appeared the receiver’s forward progress had stopped before the ball was ripped out and subsequently returned 64-yards for a Georgia touchdown. The Bulldogs also benefited from a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Last week, Missouri played without their two starting receivers – Emanuel Hall and Nate Brown – and lost a nail-biter to the Gamecocks despite dominating statistically. Two ill-fated Drew Lock interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown late in the third quarter, doomed the Tigers in a game that they probably should have won.

The Tigers will be looking to avoid a third consecutive conference loss as they head to Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa with an upset on their mind. As a four-touchdown underdog, can the Tigers put a scare into the Crimson Tide and potentially even score an upset? Or will this latest iteration of the Alabama football death machine prove to be too powerful once again?

Here are three bold predictions for this SEC matchup.