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Truth is, Drinkwitz may not know the answer to that question until Cook sees how he feels when he wakes up Saturday.

And there’s no point in rushing to an official decision, considering whatever element of surprise you can protect is a plus. (Remember how Mizzou was caught flat-footed at Texas A&M by preparing for the wrong quarterback before Aggies coach Mike Elko pulled a switcheroo.)

Cling to the SEC-mandated injury report if you like. Just remember Cook also was deemed “doubtful� to return against Auburn — until he did and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. But just assuming he’s going to be able to make it through four quarters against Alabama just because he was able to return on full adrenaline — and whatever else he was given during his time off the field — for one memorable quarter against Auburn also seems premature. Cook’s toughness can’t be questioned. He will go to great lengths to prove to his coaches that he can play. They must also think of what is best for him, and what is best for the rest of MU’s season.

There have been times when a game like this against an opponent like this with an injury issue like this would have presented a pretty clear path to take. Such as, sit the starting quarterback and hope the injury gets better with two weeks of rest. Take the likely loss. Embrace with open arms the approaching bye week. Focus on much more winnable games the rest of the season, hopefully with a QB who has benefited from not one but two consecutive weeks off his feet. And maybe that is still the smartest call for Drinkwitz to make, especially if Cook is basically one-legged at the moment. High ankle sprains are no joke. Some athletes say breaks feel better sooner.

But there’s also no guarantee — a likelihood but not a certainty — that a two-loss Missouri team would be a lock for the expanded College Football Playoff. Raising a proverbial white flag against Alabama and leaving no wiggle room against Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas doesn’t seem like a strategic call if Cook can at least give it a go against Alabama. He hasn’t been fully healthy all season, and Mizzou has only lost one game.

There’s another reason to consider letting Cook take a shot if he’s mobile enough to protect himself. Bama’s beatable. Maybe not by a Missouri team suffering from significant injuries, but more so than they have been in a long, long time, probably since Nick Saban’s first season in 2007.

“I think for sure the standard that everybody was used to for so long after Alabama went through a bunch of hell leading up to those glorious years, I think it’s definitely a different era I don’t think you’ll see the same standard from discipline, just things that the team seems to do.�

Man, what Bama basher said that?

Actually, it was A.J. McCarron, the former national championship winning Crimson Tide quarterback who more recently starred for your ºüÀêÊÓƵ BattleHawks. His critical comments on a podcast this week had some longtime fans of Alabama nodding in agreement. Just when Washington turned Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer made folks wonder if replacing a great could look easier than many others who have tried and failed, reality returned. This just in. It’s still very hard to replace a legend.

Alabama nearly coughed up its huge win against Georgia by letting the Bulldogs storm back late, and there’s been more trouble since. Those determined to hold Bama’s place in the College Football Playoff are trying to make a loss to Vanderbilt seem better than it is; some in that same crowd have refused to give Mizzou much credit for actually beating the Commodores. South Carolina nearly clipped Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Gamecocks led in the fourth quarter before going down. Then Tennessee last week handed Alabama its second loss in three games — and its fourth consecutive game decided by one touchdown or less.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is dangerous, but he can be erratic. His six interceptions are tied for second-most in the SEC this season. Cook has thrown just one pick this year. Two times this season Milroe has not rushed for two touchdowns in a game. Alabama lost both of those games. Keep him out of the end zone and you can win.

Alabama can score, but turnovers and penalties have become a real issue. Between fumbles and picks, Bama has handed the ball over 11 times, making the Tide one of just six SEC teams with more than 10 turnovers. Mizzou has just four, the second-lowest amount in the SEC.

Alabama also has earned the most penalties in the SEC. DeBoer’s team has been flagged 62 times for 548 yards, giving up an average of 78.3 penalty yards per game. Mizzou is the least-penalized team (40) in the SEC after cleaning up its flag problems early in the season.

Most glaringly, this isn’t a defense that has Saban’s meticulous fingerprints on it. Alabama has allowed 21.3 points per game, which ranks 11th in the league. Only Florida (4-3) and Mississippi State (1-6) are surrendering as many rushing yards per game as Bama’s 141. A Bama defense so vanilla against the run is rare. Can Mizzou take advantage with injuries limiting both Cook and lead running back Nate Noel? Can Marcus Carroll and Jamal Roberts be heroes?

It’s impossible to pick Mizzou to upset Bama without knowing the final status of Cook, and no one is going to know the true status of Cook until kickoff nears, so for now we will just have to wait. But make no mistake, this version of Alabama has legitimate flaws, though the Tigers will need a relatively mobile version of their starting quarterback to have a somewhat realistic chance of exposing them.