Alabama Football: 3 bold predictions for Week 7 Missouri matchup
3. Drew Lock will have a monster game
Drew Lock will produce the third 400-plus yard passing game against a Nick Saban-coached Alabama team. Only two quarterbacks have thrown for over 400-yards against a Nick Saban coached Alabama football defense since he began roaming the sidelines in Tuscaloosa in 2007. That would be Johnny Manziel and Deshaun Watson.
Manziel, coming off a Heisman winning season in 2012 where the biggest highlight was beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa, lit up the Crimson Tide again in 2013 in College Station, throwing for 464 yards and five touchdowns in a wild shootout that Alabama was able to escape 49-42. Saban claimed after the game to then Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin that the experience had taken 10 years off his life.
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Two and a half years later, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson became the second quarterback to eclipse that mark in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, throwing for 405 yards and four touchdowns and nearly single-handily leading Clemson to victory in a narrow 45-40 defeat.
The stars have aligned for the third such game to take place in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, particularly with the news on Monday that Alabama’s top cornerback, Trevon Diggs, will be out indefinitely with a broken foot. That will thrust JUCO transfer Saivion Smith, who was torched on the first play of the game against Ole Miss and subsequently benched, back into the starting lineup. If Smith is ineffective, the Crimson Tide could resort to freshman Josh Jobe, who would be joining fellow true freshman Patrick Surtain II in the Tide’s secondary.
Lock will be licking his chops at the potential of going against two true freshman corners, particularly if Emanuel Hall and Nate Brown are able to play this weekend. He was the SEC’s most prolific passer last season, and led the NCAA with 44 passing touchdowns. He has yet to eclipse 400-yards passing in a game so far this season, but he did reach the mark three times as a junior last season, and two times as a sophomore in 2016.
Arkansas came into last week ranked 107th in the country in yards-per-play, and currently rank 116th in passer efficiency, and even they were able to expose some holes in the Alabama defense. They racked up over 400 yards of offense and put 31 points on the board. The Missouri offense provides a much bigger test for the Tide this week.
This has all the makings of a shootout, and with the likelihood that the Crimson Tide will be able to score at will, Missouri will have to throw the football to keep up, and Lock is more than capable.