The Tigers are heading down to Tuscaloosa.

Missouri football goes on the road to face Alabama on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in a game that could prove to be a College Football Playoff elimination matchup.

Mizzou (6-1, 2-1 SEC) is still looking for a season-defining win that could bolster its résumé by the time the CFP committee begins releasing rankings Nov. 5. The Tigers, with a blowout loss at Texas A&M on the record, are running out of chances.

Alabama (5-2, 2-2), meanwhile, is on the brink of being eliminated entirely, as one more loss likely ends any path to a meaningful December game in Kalen DeBoer first season as the Tide's head coach.

That should set up an intriguing contest in Tuscaloosa.

Here is what Alabama’s players and coaching staff said about Missouri football before Saturday’s game:

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Here’s what Alabama coaches said about Missouri football offense

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack sees a bit of a paper trail in the current iteration of the Missouri offense.

“You see elements to what (Eli Drinkwitz) has done over the years, even going back to Gus Malzahn (at Auburn), and some of the things that he was doing at App State and NC State,” Wommack said. “And then certainly you see a lot of the flavor of even some of the things we do offensively, under Kirby Moore.”

Moore spent time working with DeBoer in the Alabama head coach’s two stints at Fresno State, first as the offensive coordinator and later as the head coach. That’s likely why Wommack may be seeing some similarities.

Alabama is expected to be without starting defensive back Keon Sabb against Mizzou, while fellow DBs Zabien Brown, DeVonta Smith and Red Morgan appear to be day-to-day.

That led to some questions for the Tide’s coaching staff about Missouri’s wide receivers, specifically Luther Burden III, about how Alabama will game-plan to stop Mizzou.

“(Burden) runs your whips, your pivots, your option routes; he has the speed on the GPS and on film to take it over the top, create separation,” Alabama defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist told reporters. “You know, he's a friendly target for the quarterback, and they find ways to get him the ball and find ways to make sure he gets his targets and his touches. From a deployment standpoint, they do a good job of moving him around and putting him in all positions. ... He's at both slot positions. He's the move guy on jet sweeps.

… “And they have enough (of the) right pieces around him, where you start focusing on Luther too much, and the other guys can go and win as well.”

On Brady Cook’s comeback story Saturday

By the time they spoke Monday, at least one of Alabama’s defensive linemen hadn’t heard the tale of Brady Cook’s rollercoaster Saturday.

The Missouri quarterback exited the game in the first quarter and had an MRI in the hospital. Cook returned late in the third quarter and led two touchdown drives to overturn an 11-point deficit against Auburn.

Reporters in the facility, it appears, broke the news to ’Bama defensive end Jah-Marien Latham.

“And came back?” Latham first asked when he heard about Cook’s visit to the hospital, then said, “that's a dog. I like that.”

The Alabama coaches were a little bit more in the know.

“I think the dude is an extremely tough player,” Wommack said of Cook. … “He was out, and then to come back in the third quarter, and really willed his team to win the game through running the football and scrambling. I thought (that) was really impressive coming off of an injury, so impressed by their team and impressed by their toughness and their grit.”

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On Missouri’s defense, coaching connection with Corey Batoon

Nick Sheridan, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, may spend some extra time picking his fellow play-caller’s brain this week.

That’s because, for the past three seasons, Missouri defensive coordinator Corey Batoon was the defensive play-caller at South Alabama while Wommack was the head coach.

Sheridan played it off a little, saying good coaches work more with what they have available over blind commitment to any one identity or scheme.

“Any type of crossover experiences or relationships that you have among staff, you always have questions,” Sheridan said. … “There's always core fundamentals and principles that both Kane and Coach Batoon share, but each group's a little bit different. Each year is a little bit different. I think the way that they play; I think the effort, the toughness, the physicality, the disruption of the football — I think those are the things that you see, aside from maybe some similarities schematically.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What Alabama coaches, players said about Missouri football before game