Tommy Deas
TideSports.com Editor
ATLANTA | The Missouri Tigers had two weapons against the University of Alabama's defense Saturday in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome: a wing and a prayer.
Quarterback Maty Mauk winged a few long prayers that were answered, but those up-for-grabs passes only got Missouri into the end zone one time in the Crimson Tide's decisive 42-13 victory.
Missouri got little else against Alabama defenders: a mere 41 rushing yards on 23 carries, and only 132 passing yards on 31 attempts if you subtract the three long passes to Jimmie Hunt, who caught six balls for 169 yards - most of his production coming on receptions of 32, 63 and 47 yards.
"The game plan was, we knew (Mauk) is a scrambler and he likes to make plays with his legs, but he's not necessarily looking to run - he's looking to make a play downfield," Alabama safety Nick Perry said. "We lost contain a few times and we lost our man back there in coverage a few times.
"We were able to come out with a 'W' so I think we did our job."
Missouri got a total of one first down on its first four possessions, but Mauk scrambled toward the sideline and heaved a 32-yard pass that Hunt snagged downfield for a 32-yard gain in the second quarter to set up a Missouri field goal.
Mauk did it again in the third quarter for the 63-yard gain to set up a touchdown that cut Alabama's lead to 21-10, and got chased out of the pocket before throwing the 47-yarder to Hunt later in the period, setting up another field goal to cut Alabama's lead to 21-13.
After that, Missouri ran out of prayers as Alabama shut the Tigers down and took over the game.
Not allowing Missouri to get any traction in the ground game was crucial.
"That's something that we definitely pride ourselves on is having a solid run defense," defensive lineman Jonathan Allen said. "We felt like we had to step it up this week.
"We felt like we had the right mentality to not let anyone run the ball on us. I believe we came out here and made a statement defensively. They were physical up front but I felt we did a good job being aggressive and we were definitely physical out there."
The lingering worry for Alabama fans heading into the playoffs will be about the secondary, in particular the long completions. A week earlier, Auburn scored twice on pass plays of 30 yards or longer.
Perry says there's no need to worry.
"At the end of the day, teams are going to make big plays," Perry said. "A team like Missouri, this is the SEC Championship Game and they're representing the East; Auburn, they're a championship contender every year and they have great guys, athletic guys.
"We just have to contain them and limit the big plays and we'll win the game. We won both those games, so there's not really much people can complain about."
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1712735
TideSports.com Editor
ATLANTA | The Missouri Tigers had two weapons against the University of Alabama's defense Saturday in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome: a wing and a prayer.
Quarterback Maty Mauk winged a few long prayers that were answered, but those up-for-grabs passes only got Missouri into the end zone one time in the Crimson Tide's decisive 42-13 victory.
Missouri got little else against Alabama defenders: a mere 41 rushing yards on 23 carries, and only 132 passing yards on 31 attempts if you subtract the three long passes to Jimmie Hunt, who caught six balls for 169 yards - most of his production coming on receptions of 32, 63 and 47 yards.
"The game plan was, we knew (Mauk) is a scrambler and he likes to make plays with his legs, but he's not necessarily looking to run - he's looking to make a play downfield," Alabama safety Nick Perry said. "We lost contain a few times and we lost our man back there in coverage a few times.
"We were able to come out with a 'W' so I think we did our job."
Missouri got a total of one first down on its first four possessions, but Mauk scrambled toward the sideline and heaved a 32-yard pass that Hunt snagged downfield for a 32-yard gain in the second quarter to set up a Missouri field goal.
Mauk did it again in the third quarter for the 63-yard gain to set up a touchdown that cut Alabama's lead to 21-10, and got chased out of the pocket before throwing the 47-yarder to Hunt later in the period, setting up another field goal to cut Alabama's lead to 21-13.
After that, Missouri ran out of prayers as Alabama shut the Tigers down and took over the game.
Not allowing Missouri to get any traction in the ground game was crucial.
"That's something that we definitely pride ourselves on is having a solid run defense," defensive lineman Jonathan Allen said. "We felt like we had to step it up this week.
"We felt like we had the right mentality to not let anyone run the ball on us. I believe we came out here and made a statement defensively. They were physical up front but I felt we did a good job being aggressive and we were definitely physical out there."
The lingering worry for Alabama fans heading into the playoffs will be about the secondary, in particular the long completions. A week earlier, Auburn scored twice on pass plays of 30 yards or longer.
Perry says there's no need to worry.
"At the end of the day, teams are going to make big plays," Perry said. "A team like Missouri, this is the SEC Championship Game and they're representing the East; Auburn, they're a championship contender every year and they have great guys, athletic guys.
"We just have to contain them and limit the big plays and we'll win the game. We won both those games, so there's not really much people can complain about."
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1712735
