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Everything we thought about Missouri is fair to be questioned at this point.

A single afternoon caused that.

It was like there were two tiers of teams on Texas A&M’s Kyle Field on Saturday. And even if Texas A&M turns out to be an elite team this year, losing by 31 points is unacceptable.

After the embarrassing 41-10 loss, one wonders about the strength of the Mizzou defense, the precision of quarterback Brady Cook, the will of the Mizzou offensive line and the mentality of a football team that, even at 4-1, hasn’t shown the dominance and even ruthlessness needed to compete for a national championship.

But the good news is that everything we thought about Alabama is fair to be questioned, too.

And Tennessee.

I still can’t believe Saturday happened.

No. 1 Alabama lost at Vanderbilt.

No. 4 Tennessee lost at Arkansas.

No. 9 Missouri lost at No. 25 Texas A&M.

No. 10 Michigan lost at Washington.

No. 11 Southern California lost at Minnesota.

It was the first time four teams rated in the top 11 lost to unranked opponents since 2016, per The Associated Press.

So at least Mizzou’s loss, I suppose, was the ... least-embarrassing of the five? Regardless, Mizzou was a mess. And if the now-No. 21 Tigers are going to still crack the 12-team College Football Playoff, they very well might have to play perfect football. Yet the Tigers head to Tuscaloosa on Oct. 26 (the Crimson Tide now are No. 7) and host No. 18 Oklahoma on Nov. 9.

All summer and fall, I thought Mizzou was built to make the CFP. Now I’m questioning both the architecture and infrastructure. If the Tigers had lost by a reasonable margin, I’d still be all-in, but this was a shell-shocking shellacking.

Now, Alabama’s loss was teetered on the inexplicable, but the Crimson Tide still should be the driver’s seat for a playoff spot. Bama already knocked off now-No. 5 Georgia and is built to compete with anyone. But Tennessee? It still has Alabama and Georgia on its schedule — so essentially, the loser of the Oct. 19 Alabama-Tennessee game could be cooked.

Speaking of cooked, is Brady Cook?

He struggled so much in the double-overtime win against Vanderbilt, I wrote a whole column about his lackluster production. Then came the infamous Saturday afternoon in College Station, Texas. He was 13 for 31 passing for 186 yards and one touchdown. Sure, the refs botched a couple of calls that would’ve definitely benefited Brady. And his offensive line was flimsy. But for the game, per ESPN’s stats, Cook finished with a passer rating of 103 — his lowest of the season and lowest since Sept. 10, 2022, when Kansas State tossed around the Tigers 40-12.

Look, I’ve seen enough of Brady Cook over the years to still believe in the guy. He’s got gumption and grit and all that good stuff. But this will be the toughest test of his career: Can he use the games at Massachusetts and against Auburn to rediscover his accuracy and reroute his season's trajectory?

Incidentally, here I am just assuming the game against Auburn is a win. Mizzou barely beat Boston College and Vanderbilt, after all. But clearly, Cook and coach Eli Drinkwitz and receiver Luther Burden III — all the way down to the water-bottle passer-outer — need to ask themselves hard questions about mental toughness and execution. After all, Mizzou is third-to-last in the Southeastern Conference in water-intake-per-timeout.

(I’m kidding).

Looking back at the 41-10 loss, so many things stood out — in a negative way.

Cook couldn’t break out on the majority of his runs. And neither could the running backs (common denominator, of course, being the offensive line).

As pointed out by Post-Dispatch colleague Eli Hoff, Cook didn’t get positive yardage in designed run plays (and didn’t the previous game, either).

There were so many sacks allowed (and just one made by Mizzou’s defense).

Defensive back Marvin Burks Jr., who has made some untimely decisions in previous games, blew some tackles.

And the Tigers, who actually rank 18th in third-down conversions, went 0 for 5 in the first half and finished 5 for 15.

And of course, the Mizzou loss ended the dreams of the Tigers arriving undefeated at Alabama. That would’ve been one of the most-anticipated games in recent MU history (heck, in history). But now the Bama game is anticipated in another way. Assuming Mizzou knocks off Massachusetts and Auburn, the Alabama game is the Tigers’ next test to prove that they belong in the playoff race.

But after what happened against the maroon on the road, one fears it’ll be a similar outcome against the crimson.