Since Nate Oats arrived in Tuscaloosa during the 2019-20 season, the Crimson Tide have played a game at Mizzou Arena in each of his three seasons thus far. The only issue? Alabama has yet to secure a win in Columbia in each of those three tries.
In 2020, they lost what would end up being their final game of the season due to COVID in a beatdown to an inferior Missouri team. They lost their first conference game of the year in 2021 after a 10-0 start in a heartbreaker at Missouri, and also lost last season in a game that can be argued was really the beginning of the end for the 2022 Crimson Tide team.
For whatever reason, Mizzou Arena has been a house of horrors for Alabama since the arrival of Nate Oats. If there were ever an opportunity to reverse that curse, it’s now. While Missouri has had a decent season so far and is better probably than most expected under new head coach Dennis Gates, this Crimson Tide team can perform on the road as well as anyone in the country and is the significantly better squad headed into the Saturday matchup.
Oats has his team sitting at 6-0 in the SEC, but keeping the team focused and in a positive head space will continue to be a challenge for the rest of the year following the tragedy involving now former player Darius Miles in which he was charged with capitol murder. Oats and the entire team are dealing with unprecedented circumstances and will have to continue to try to weather the emotional storm as they did at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
Despite the fact that the team is dealing with a lot right now and their historic struggles at Missouri, I would expect them to come out of Columbia with the first win of the Oats era at Missouri. Prediction: Alabama 82, Missouri 73.
