SEC Championship 2014: Alabama vs. Missouri Live Stream, TV Info and Schedule
The mission is clear for the Alabama Crimson Tide—beat the Missouri Tigers in Saturday’s SEC Championship, and they get to participate in the first-ever College Football Playoff. Alabama will probably even be the No. 1 seed.
Missouri gets to play the role of spoiler, but an SEC title in a year that looked doomed early on after a stunning home loss to Indiana would mark an incredible turnaround. A win would also position the Tigers as dark-horse contenders for a playoff spot if there were a handful of other upsets across the college football landscape.
Here is a look at the essential information for the game.
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Alabama vs. Missouri
Date: Saturday, Dec. 6
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Place: Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBS Sports Live
If Missouri has a chance Saturday, it will have to start up front with the pass rush.
Shane Ray leads the SEC with 14 sacks on the season, while his partner in crime, Markus Golden, has nine sacks of his own. The Alabama offensive line, in particular left tackle Cam Robinson, will be tasked with slowing the Ray and Golden combination down to give Blake Sims time to throw to Amari Cooper.
If Sims gets that time, he will certainly find his superstar wide receiver, so that is plenty of responsibility for the star pass-rushers.
Pressuring Sims won’t even be an issue for Missouri, though, if it can’t stop the run. The Tigers defense was gutted on the ground in losses to Indiana (241 rushing yards allowed) and Georgia (210 rushing yards allowed) and now has to deal with T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry.
If the Crimson Tide force the Tigers to worry about the run early, it will neutralize the pass rush and free up Cooper for some big plays over the top in one-on-one situations. There may not be a better receiver in all of college football, and the SEC Network passed along the numbers to prove it:
Missouri has nobody to counter Cooper, although you cannot hold that against the Tigers because nobody can really stop him.
On the other side, Alabama’s defense is licking its wounds a bit after allowing an astounding 628 total yards to Auburn in the Iron Bowl. However, Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk and the rest of the Tigers’ pass offense only averages 189.9 yards per game through the air, so this is an ideal offense for Alabama to get some of its defensive momentum back against.
To make matters worse for Missouri, Mauk is less than 100 percent, as head coach Gary Pinkel said, via Tod Palmer of The Kansas City Star: “He tweaked his shoulder a little bit. Nothing really bad, but obviously, if you’re a quarterback and your shoulder’s hurt a little bit, especially your throwing shoulder, it certainly affects you.”
Missouri simply doesn’t have the offensive firepower of an Auburn to put up numbers like fans saw in the Iron Bowl against Alabama’s defense. If nothing else, that recent performance will serve to motivate the Crimson Tide on that side of the ball, which is trouble for the Tigers.
Don’t be fooled by Missouri’s overall 10-2 record, either.
It somehow avoided Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss from the SEC West. If it is possible to have an easy schedule in the SEC, the Tigers found a way to do just that. In the team’s one game against a marquee opponent this year, it was eviscerated by Georgia to the tune of 34-0. The Tigers couldn’t stop the Bulldogs or muster up anything of note on offense.
Of course, the Tigers also have the inexplicable loss to Indiana on the resume. The Crimson Tide have gotten past much stiffer tests than this already this season and should have no trouble Saturday.
Nick Saban has a motivated defense looking to correct its errors from a week ago and offensive weapons in Cooper and the running backs that Missouri simply won’t be able to stop. This one will get out of hand quickly.
Prediction: Alabama 41, Missouri 17
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