In yet another marquee SEC clash, Missouri hosts Alabama in a pivotal Week 7 college football matchup. The two top-15 teams both enter the game on lengthy win streaks, adding stakes to the highly anticipated showdown.
Alabama enters the game as the higher-ranked team, moving up to No. 8 in the Week 7 AP college football rankings. The Tide fell out of the top 10 after their Week 1 loss to Florida State, but have recently surged back to the top. They see their third consecutive top-20 victory after consecutive wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt.
Missouri enters Week 7 ranked No. 14 and brings its perfect 5-0 record into the matchup. The Tigers entered the season with reasonably high expectations, but they have looked better than advertised through five games.
Both teams enter the matchup with momentum and a combined 9-1 record on the year. Alabama, however, has dominated the recent series, winning the last six matchups. The Crimson Tide also owned the most recent meeting, beating Missouri 34-0 at home last season.
With both Alabama and Missouri vying for College Football Playoff bids, the outcome could have significant implications by the end of the 2025 season. The Tide already have two signature victories, but the Tigers have yet to secure a win over another elite opponent.
If Missouri is going to pull off the upset at home in Week 7, it needs to exploit one glaring weakness in Alabama's game.
Missouri needs to exploit Alabama's lacking run game
Entering the season, Alabama's biggest concerns came at quarterback. Some believed in Ty Simpson as Jalen Milroe's successor, but many other fans wished the team had secured a bigger name.
Five games into the year, Simpson is clearly not an issue. The junior has racked up 1,478 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just one interception entering Week 7 while completing an absurd 70.3 percent of his passes. His elite efficiency has him atop the midseason Heisman conversation.
However, as good as Simpson has been, Alabama has become a one-dimensional offense. The Tide are averaging just 126.8 rushing yards per game thus far, the third-fewest in the SEC. After dominating in that department in 2024, they have eclipsed 100 rushing yards in just three of their first five games.
Star running back Jam Miller's absence influenced those numbers, suggesting positive regression coming soon. Miller returned from a collarbone injury against Georgia in Week 5 and has already racked up 182 rushing yards in two games.
Miller's return helps, but he now leads Alabama's backfield against its stiffest test of the season to date. Missouri has allowed just 62.4 rushing yards per game through six weeks, the fewest in the SEC by a wide margin. The Tigers' strength of schedule is certainly noteworthy, but they have already stifled the run-heavy attacks of Kansas and South Carolina.
Alabama will find success through the air. Simpson has looked like an unstoppable force since Week 2, and Missouri's defense has been beatable in its two previous games against Power Four opponents. But if the Tigers can continue to shut down the ground game, they have a chance to pull off a monumental Week 7 victory at home.
Missouri also needs to lean on Beau Pribula
Stopping the run will be key, but Missouri also needs to establish its own offense to get the win. The Tigers need to win the ground game on both sides of the ball if they wish to remain undefeated.
Winning the line of scrimmage is crucial for any underdog's upset hopes, but Missouri desperately needs to get that part of its offense going. Quarterback Beau Pribula is completing an SEC-best 75.9 percent of his passes, but he faces his stiffest test against an Alabama defense that has allowed just 130.4 passing yards per game, second-fewest in the SEC.
Pribula is most dangerous when he gets his ground game going. That will need to be the focus of his effort in Week 7 against the Tide, which has already shown a potential weakness in that area. Alabama allowed Diego Pavia to gain 58 rushing yards in Week 6, ceded 22 rushing yards to Gunner Stockton and watched Tommy Castellanos scamper for 78 yards in Week 1.
Pribula's rushing production has been inconsistent, but he has taken off for at least one run of 10 or more yards in all but one game thus far. Alabama is coming off a week in which it let Pavia get loose for multiple explosive runs.
Missouri needs to win the line of scrimmage, but it needs Pribula to deliver in his first big game even more. If the Tigers can slow this game down, they have a better chance of poking holes at a team that is still rounding out its edges.
