Missouri has played Alabamas before.
They went by different names, but they were all Alabamas. Sometimes the front of the jersey may have read Oklahoma or Nebraska or Notre Dame or Texas or even Alabama.
They were all Alabamas.
This won’t be the first Alabama and this won’t be the last Alabama that Missouri plays. Missouri’s lost most of the games against Alabamas, in fact. But the wins — oh, man, the wins. A shocking loss is devastating because you get blindsided by it.
A shocking win is the antipode, then. It’s life-giving. It’s program-saving.