Alabama vs. Missouri: Why Tigers defensive front is bigger test for Crimson Tide than Georgia

The Alabama offensive line might be facing its biggest challenge yet when it takes on Missouri in Week 7. It’s a wild statement conidering that the Crimson Tide are just two weeks removed from facing Georgia, but it’s one college football analyst Josh Pate is willing to stand behind.

In Tuesday’s episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, Pate broke down his opinion in great detail. He brought up the statistics to explain why Missouri has been better at pressuring the quarterback thus far, saying it could spell trouble for Ty Simpson.

“This game right here is a bigger test for Alabama’s offensive line than facing Georgia,” Pate declared emphatically. “Georgia can’t pressure the quarterback. Missouri can. No. 2 pressure rate in the country, actually. So if you had fears, if you had this nightmare image in your mind as a Bama fan of your team going into Sanford Stadium and Ty Simpson constantly being under duress and that offensive line being put in a blender, it didn’t happen.

“You hope it doesn’t happen again period. But I’m just telling you, unfortunately, the more likely culprits to make that happen are the Missouri Tigers if what we see on paper about their stat profile defensively verifies.”

Currently, Missouri is tied for 21st in the country with 2.8 sacks per game and ranks No. 1 in the FBS in rushing yards allowed per game (62.4). Georgia, by comparison is averaging only one sack but does rank 13th against the run.

Additionally, Pate cited some questions regarding the Alabama offensive line, which according to offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has still not locked in its starting five. That could allow key Missouri defenders such as Damon Wilson and Zion Young a chance to take advantage.

“That offensive line at Alabama is still mixing and matching,” Pate said. “I listened to Ryan Grubb last week. He was asked, ‘Why do you guys keep doing that?’ He said, ‘We haven’t settled on our five yet,’ which is a pretty basic answer. I don’t think he’s lying. If he was, they’d have the same five trotting out there. Zion Young’s a really good player for Missouri. Damon Wilson would be starting for Georgia right now and be one of their better players. Chris McClellan. They’ve got legit SEC disruption makers up front defensively.

“Here’s the funny thing: I see a similar edge Alabama has against Missouri that they had against Georgia. Because when you looked at that game, Alabama-Georgia, you kind of knew if Ty Simpson’s got time, he could go to work against that Georgia secondary. I think the same thing here. If he’s got time, especially with the group of wideouts, he can go to work against this Missouri secondary. I just am less sure that he’ll have a whole bunch of time in this one than I was against Georgia.”

Certainly, this is expected to be a close game between Alabama and Missouri. As of this writing, the Crison Tide are just 3-point favorites according to BetMGM.

Alabama is also on the road and will have to handle a hostile crowd in addition to the defensive pressure. We’ll see how they manage when the game kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday in Columbia.