Missouri looks ahead after loss to Alabama

The game may not have gone exactly as they hoped or planned, but head coach Eli Drinkwitz was very consistent with his message following the Missouri Tigers’ crushing loss to No. 15 Alabama.

“We’re going to go home, regroup, try to get healthy and move on to the next game,” Drinkwitz said after a 34-0 loss to the Crimson Tide.

The loss was Missouri’s first shutout since the 2019 season. The already struggling offense couldn’t put anything together. The closest Missouri came to scoring was a missed 59-yard field goal attempt and a goal-line run stuffing in the fourth quarter. Despite a strong first half, the defense showed holes in the second half that Alabama took advantage of.

“We all came up with a plan to win, but it just didn’t happen,” Drinkwitz said. “It wasn’t our day today, and we’re not going to be divided, we’re not going to point fingers. We’re going to get back, get healthy this week and finish this stretch.”

Their struggles were compounded by the astonishing number of injuries announced in the lead up to and during the match. Wednesday’s report listed three players as questionable, six as doubtful and one as probable, including their leading rusher and starting quarterback. The list was shortened due to playing time, but still included wide receiver Mookie Cooper and running back Nate Noel as out and Brady Cook as playing time decision.

The game looked more hopeful after Cook was announced as the starter, but it didn’t take long for those hopes to be dashed. Cook injured his hand on another player’s helmet and had to be removed for an X-ray. He did not return to the match.

“First of all, we have to get healthy during the bye week,” defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. said. “I feel like we need to regroup as a team and look at the situation whether Brady can come back or not.”

The question now on the Missouri Football team is whether Cook can get healthy for the remainder of the season. The extent of his hand injury was not disclosed, but before that he was also dealing with a bad ankle that kept him out of most of the game against Auburn the week before.

“There are four SEC games left,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s still a big football season left, and we just have to go home, get healthy, flush this out and move on to the next one.”

The rest of the season could be looked at very differently if Cook cannot return. The Tigers have managed just six points in the past two games when backup quarterback Drew Pyne was in the game. He also threw three interceptions and was sacked during this time.

Despite everything that went wrong for the Tigers, the players and coaches are choosing to remain optimistic for the rest of the season. They have emphasized that every game, every game should be treated as its own game and we should move on from the bad.

“Our season isn’t over yet,” Walker said. “We’ve got four or five more games and a bye week. Depending on what happens, playoffs or trying to get a good bowl game. We’ll see what happens.”