TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – The Alabama Crimson Tide looked beatable.

But with how the Missouri Tigers played offensively, they wouldn’t have beat an FCS school.

The Crimson Tide shut out the Tigers 34-0 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Saturday, handing the Tigers their second loss of the season, with both coming in embarrassing fashion.

“With Brady (Cook’s) injury, we just couldn’t ever get in rhythm,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “And obviously the turnovers really put us behind the eight ball and just put the defense in too many bad spots today.”

After leading a Homecoming comeback last weekend, Cook had been doubtful on the injury report Wednesday and Thursday, progressed to questionable Friday and became a game-time decision Saturday.

He started, but the Tiger offense didn’t have the magic he was able to produce in the late third and fourth quarters against Auburn.

Cook completed 7-of-12 passes for 30 yards, playing the Tigers’ first four offensive drives. But after hitting his hand on a helmet during a throw, he had to exit the game and head to the locker room.

This time, there was no coming back to save the game as he was declared out and backup Drew Pyne returned to the field.

“They took an X-ray and didn’t feel like they were comfortable with letting him continue,” Drinkwitz said of Cook. “So we’ll see where that goes.”

When Cook exited, the Tide led 6-0 after making two field goals on their first five drives, amassing only 122 yards.

“Proud of our defense, the way they came out and fought, I thought they gave us an opportunity to stay in the game, especially in the first half,” Drinkwitz said.

But Pyne couldn’t set the defense up for success the rest of the way as he threw three interceptions and completed only 6-of-12 passes for 42 yards.

The first interception came near the end of the first half after Alabama’s second field goal, as Pyne tried to connect deep with Luther Burden, but the throw went straight to Malachi Moore instead and he returned it 31 yards to the Missouri 35.

With only 35 yards to go, the Tide offense needed only three plays as Jalen Milroe completed a deep pass to Emmanuel Henderson for 28 yards and Jamarion Miller took the ball in from the 3 for the game’s first touchdown with 1:57 left before the break.

“We can’t throw the interception right there before half,” Drinkwitz said. “It just, you know, just spiraled after that.”

That spiral started on the first possession of the second half as Alabama drove 80 yards on just six plays, led by Milroe throwing passes of 14 and 23 yards and scrambling for another 32. On second-and-goal from the Missouri 9, Milroe took a designed run to the left that seemed to be blown up by the Missouri defense, but Milroe bounced off the back of his lineman and reversed course all the way to the home sideline and dove into the end zone, reaching the ball just past the pilon, to put Alabama up 20-0 with 12:40 left in the third.

The next Tiger drive seemed to gain some momentum as Pyne scrambled 10 yards for a first down and Jamal Roberts ran for another to convert on a third down, but Pyne attempted another deep pass to Burden and Bray Hubbard was the safety to come down with it this time.

“Our team is very close, very tight-knit,” Pyne said. “Everyone has each other’s backs. I had guys on defense and offense coming up to me after every single pick saying they had my back, telling me they love me. It’s just part of football. You just got to keep going.”

The Missouri defense didn’t allow the Tide to take advantage this time, though, forcing a quick punt.

“I thought (defensively) we did exactly what we wanted,” Drinkwitz said. “We were winning first downs, we were stopping the run, we were setting edges, getting off the field on third down.”

But the ensuing Missouri drive ended with Pyne’s third interception, this one caught by Qua Russaw, on a pass attempt to Brett Norfleet.

Milroe threw passes of 15 and 7 yards to get into Missouri territory, then Justice Haynes ran up the middle for 28 yards and two plays later added 11 more and a touchdown to put the Tide up 27-0.

Alabama scored again two drives later when Haynes broke free on a 35-yard run with 11:06 left to play to create the final margin.

Missouri’s offense finally got moving as Pyne threw a 5-yard pass to Marcus Carroll, then Carroll ran for gains of 5 and 4 yards. Roberts added a 4-yard run before Carroll ran for 10 and 20 more on the next two plays. Roberts added a 6-yard run and Carroll ran for 14 and 3 before Roberts gained another 12 to get the Tigers to first-and-goal from the Alabama 7 with 5:59 left to play.

“I thought Marcus and Jamal did as good a job as they could do,” Drinkwitz said. “I thought they really ran tough at the end of the game.”

But Alabama brought its starting defensive line back in and stuffed the next four runs to maintain the shutout.

Carroll had 80 yards and 17 attempts, while Roberts had 71 on 17 tries. Missouri ran for 167 yards as a team and passed for 72, completing 13-of-24 passes with three interceptions.

“You’ve got two choices as a man, just curl up in a ball and whatever, or try as hard as you can to get better,” Pyne said. “You know, I love these guys in this locker room and I’m gonna do everything I can.”

Milroe was 16-of-26 passing for 215 yards and three Alabama rushers had at least 50 yards on the ground with another at 48.

In Missouri’s two losses, the Tigers have been outscored 75-0.

“I don’t see any similarities,” Drinkwitz said. “I saw three turnovers. Saw a bunch of guys beat to crap that went out there and played their butts off. It wasn’t anything similar to the Texas A&M game, it was 13-0 at halftime because of an interception. We fought our butt off, any other conversation outside of that is ridiculous.”

Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC) has a bye week to get healthy before entering the final third of the regular season where it will play Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas.

“We’ve got four SEC games and still the potential to finish with a double-digit win season,” Drinkwitz said.

Apologies for any shaky camera work in the press conference videos. I was actively publishing my quick, post-game thoughts while recording one handed.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss the game and so much more.