Solid, Smart 30-6 Win Over Mississippi State Music to Alabama's Ears

By eliminating a lot of the mistakes that had been plaguing Alabama all season, the Crimson Tide looked like a poised team that's coming together for the stretch run.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Oct 22, 2022 10:43 PM EDT

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Alabama Crimson Tide

If the song "Step by Step" got stuck in your head Saturday night, it's understandable. Or maybe "One Step in Front of the Other" if you're already in a holiday mood.

Both reflected the Alabama Crimson Tide's bounce-back game against Mississippi State.

The week after a football loss is always a time of soul-searching in Tuscaloosa, and even though the university was holding homecoming celebrations this was no exception. The Crimson Tide needed to get back to basics, have the equivalent of a movie montage with the key song of the soundtrack cranked up, and have a no-drama finish at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

It more than did that as No. 6 Alabama dominated No. 24 Mississippi State, 30-6.

By halftime, the only question was whether the Crimson Tide would notch the shutout. The Air Raid offense stuttered. The Alabama defense refused to yield any big plays, while the team as a whole proved to be opportunistic.

"I like the mindset that we had," Nick Saban said.

That's the biggest takeaway from this game, the mental strides that the Crimson Tide made for one game at least.

Alabama (7-1 overall, 4-1 SEC) was patient. It showed poise. One week after having a program-record 17 penalties, the Crimson Tide was flagged just once during the first half — an illegal formation on a punt that had to be re-kicked, with James Burnip subsequently belting a 50-yarder to flip the field — and three overall.

Meanwhile, it waited for Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3) to make costly mistakes and then took advantage of those opportunities. With head coach Mike Leach aiming to be methodical and limit opportunities by the other side it beat the Bulldogs at their own game.

It came three weeks after quarterback Bryce Young suffered a shoulder injury (that he now gets to rest for a week with the bye), and seven days after the Crimson Tide took a frustrating 52-49 loss at Tennessee that put T-town into a small funk.

Yes, defeat is still a rare thing here, and Alabama fans have gotten used to opponents rushing the field for those rare celebrations. They know critics are going to pile on in a ridiculous fashion when given the chance, and, to a lesser degree, that even the staunchest rivals are going to win every once in a while.

One can almost still hear the echos, "Yeah, but did it have to be Tennessee?"

Alabama fans had to store their cigars for the first time in 16 years, while waiting to see how the team would react. In the meantime, they were more despondent than usual. But with the bye week looming, Mississippi State would be a strong indicator of what might be expected down the stretch, and whether or not this version of the Crimson Tide should be dubbed The Pretenders.

To keep with the musical theme, there are certain performers and groups that all one has to do is turn on a song on the radio for two seconds to know who's playing. Certain bands and singers have a very distinctive, and easily recognizable sound.

But then there's someone like Billy Joel, who has very few songs that are alike. Maybe there's a familiar rhythm or tempo, as one can often pick out influences (like the prelude to an "Angry Young Man" is actually the drums from "Wipe Out" on piano), while the melodies and pacing are unique to the song.

College football teams are often viewed as the former, especially with a successful coach.

Each season, though, usually ends up more like the latter, with its own personality and unique elements.

Which is why when Alabama players and coaches talked about anxiety, mental health struggles, and their psychological disposition — can you imagine that kind of talk with some other Crimson Tide coaches? As Prince once lyrically said, "Sign O' the Times" mess with your mind — the team's cerebral approach became the story this week.

Saban has always placed an emphasis on such things and Alabama has had a Director of Behavioral Medicine since the coach arrived in 2007. The terminology and approach has changed as the mental part of sports have grown in acceptance, while society as a whole has become more understanding as well, especially due the smothering emotional strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I heard a lot of guys after the game saying we know what this feels like, we know how to turn this around," linebacker Will Anderson Jr. said earlier this week. "But do we really know how to get through this? Do we know what it takes to fail? Are we willing to get over this hump?"

Consequently, the mental makeup of this year's team couldn't help but be questioned. Did it just not know how to perform "Under Pressure?"

The song by Queen and David Bowie has a very fitting lyric of "Insanity laughs, under pressure we're cracking; Can't we give ourselves one more chance?"

"It's time for us to respond," Saban said during his pregame sideline interview on ESPN.

Some teams just need to have their "Back Against the Wall," which is ironically the title of a song by the rock band Cage the Elephant, and this version of the Crimson Tide isn't unique in that respect. Only two Saban-coached teams at Alabama have been able to run the table and win the national championship.

All the others had a regular-season loss, and each time Alabama was able to re-focus, re-tool and re-dedicate itself for the final month of the regular season and beyond.

This game was a huge step toward doing all of that. By eliminating most of the mistakes that had been plaguing Alabama all season, the Crimson Tide looked like a poised team that's coming together for the stretch run.

"We played lights out all night long," said Young, who was 21-for-35 for 249 yards and two touchdown passes as Alabama won its 15th straight over the SEC school that's closest geographically.

In the process, a number of players who were coming off rough performances in Knoxville, including safety DeMarcco Hellams and kicker Will Reichard, got an important boost in confidence just before the bye. Plus the Alabama defense got a nice lift with the first start of an All-SEC worthy cornerback, Eli Ricks.

Next up, the transfer's former school, which is tied with Alabama atop the SEC West, for a familiar matchup in another crazy atmosphere to kick off the month when the title picture always starts to clarify.

Bring on November.

Christopher Walsh's column regularly appears on BamaCentral.