Mizzou Football: What to watch for vs Alabama in first game of 2020

Mizzou football opens their season against second ranked Alabama on Saturday evening. What should Tiger fans be watching for?

Mizzou football has finally arrived! The Tigers will kick off the Eli Drinkwitz era by hosting the Alabama Crimson Tide and will hope to make this a somewhat competitive game, though it won’t be easy obviously. After a down year in 2019, Alabama will look to rebound in 2020.

I won’t beat around the bush. This game is going to be a tough one and unless Missouri plays a perfect game, they won’t be able to overcome all of the weapons that Alabama has. It’s unfortunate that the Drinkwitz era has to begin against the Crimson Tide, but sometimes life isn’t fair. And hey – At least this game is in Columbia, right?

Let’s take a look at some things to keep an eye on as MU takes the field for the first time this year.

Can they slow down the Alabama rushing attack?

Anyone who has watched Alabama football since Nick Saban took over knows that the Crimson Tide always have a strong run game. From Mark Ingram to Trent Richardson to Derrick Henry to Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris, the Tide always produce an NFL caliber running back and Najee Harris will look to be the next Alabama running back to do big things.

Harris already had a dominant season last year, rushing for 1,224 yards and 13 touchdowns while also totaling 304 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns, giving him 20 total touchdowns in 2019. Mizzou is going to have their hands full when it comes to stopping Harris and I’ll be intrigued to see how their defense fares against him.

Missouri’s quarterback situation

Shawn Robinson transferred to Mizzou prior to last season and he and Connor Bazelak have battled for the starting job this summer. Drinkwitz has been quiet as to who the starter will be (probably to throw Alabama off as much as they can) and it’s possible that both guys get a chance to quarterback the offense.

Just because one starts doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be the answer moving forward, but it’ll be exciting to see both of these guys get a shot. Robinson played at TCU for two years before transferring to MU while Bazelak is heading into his sophomore season for the Tigers.

I’m really excited to see how both quarterbacks do for Mizzou and to see if either one of them is able to have success against the ferocious Alabama defense.

Larry Rountree against the Alabama D

It won’t be an easy opening game for running back Larry Rountree III, as he’ll have to try his best to run on one of the toughest run defenses in all of college football. Rountree finished last year with 829 yards rushing and nine touchdowns and it’d be nice to see him involved more in the passing game.

Rountree faced the Crimson Tide once before (2018) and rushed for just 48 yards against them. If the Tigers find themselves in a deep hole early on, it’s possible they have to completely get away from running the ball and that’d be unfortunate for Rountree. Hopefully he can break off a big run or two early on and keep this game close.

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While no one is giving Mizzou football a chance to win this game, there are still ways for this not to be a total disappointment. If the Tigers can fight back and make a game of it, fans would feel better about a potential loss.

It’s a tough draw to have Alabama first on the schedule this year, but at least the toughest opponent will be out of the way for Eli Drinkwitz in his first year as the head coach of the Missouri Tigers. Let’s see if he has any tricks up his sleeve.