The Alabama Crimson Tide handled its business over the weekend by pulling away late from the Vanderbilt Commodores to earn a big win against a solid team and continue to build on what has been an impressive showing since their first game loss to Florida State.

After a massive road victory last week at Georgia, Alabama did not make the same mistake it made a year ago and came into the Vanderbilt game hungry and ready to go.

This week though, the team faces a much bigger challenge in a ranked Missouri Tigers team with a very mobile quarterback and a game that is going to be played at 11:00 a.m. CST, a traditionally tough time slot to go on the road and play early.

While the fact that Missouri is undefeated and ranked as highly as No. 14 in the nation likely prevent this from being a “trap game” in the traditional sense of the term, but it is a major challenge against a team that the Tide absolutely is significantly more talented than.

Getting your team up properly for an 11 a.m. game is never an easy task, but on the road it can be even tougher. To the credit of Kalen DeBoer, he did just that last season when Alabamaa destroyed Wisconsin early, however this was a much different matchup.

The Tigers have an electrifying quarterback in Beau Pribula, and while they have yet to be really tested either, Pribula has looked dominant both with his arm and his legs. Not only that, but Ahmad Hardy is one of the best running backs in the nation and could wreak havoc on the Tide defense.

If DeBoer can take his team into an environment which will be incredibly hostile despite the early kickoff and walk away with another win against a very good team, it is going to speak volumes about the steps this team has made since taking the defeat to the Seminoles.

Nothing about this game is going to be easy, but it is going to be yet another measuring stick of the kind of strides this team has made so far.

It should be a tremendous showdown in Columbia this weekend.