Statement in Starkville: Alabama Rolls over Mississippi State 49-9

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Alabama found itself in a familiar situation: goal-to-go inside a hostile environment.

This time instead of three straight passes, the Crimson Tide pounded the ball with Brian Robinson Jr. three straight times with the last one being a touchdown.

The positive outcome toward the end of the second quarter set the tone for the rest of the game and capped No. 5 Alabama's most impressive drive of the night in the 49-9 win over Mississippi State.

The 16-play, 93-yard, 7:17 drive was representative of the Alabama Standard.

So was Jameson William's 75-yard speedy touchdown catch on the opening play of the second half. And so was the pick six from Jordan Battle in the first quarter.

It was also the multiple red zone stops by the defense to force field goals and the seven sacks, including four from Will Anderson Jr. His four sacks are the second-most by a Crimson Tide player in a single game and the most since Derrick Thomas had n 1988.

Saturday was far from a perfect night for the Crimson Tide (6-1, 3-1 SEC), but Alabama took a big step toward backing up what they talked about throughout the week, making a statement and getting back to the Alabama Standard.

"There’s a lot of culture in the program here that our fans, our former players, people in the organization, people in the university, expect us to compete at a certain level," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "We call it the ‘Bama Standard, so I thought that's we did that. We did it for 60 minutes.”

The defense extended its streak to 11 straight quarters dating back to the second quarter of the 2019 game of keeping Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2) out of the end zone.

The Bulldogs were able to move the ball down the field in the first half, but the Alabama defense made plays when it needed to, whether that be stops on third down to force field goals, or the interceptions by Josh Jobe and Jordan Battle.

Jobe's interception came on Mississippi's State opening possession, and Alabama responded with a 65-yard drive culminating in a 46-yard touchdowncatch from John Metchie III to give Alabama the early 7-0 lead.

It was by far Metchie's best game of the year as he finished with 117 yards on seven catches and the touchdown. However, another Crimson Tide receiver had a breakout game.

Traeshon Holden had a career high 70 receiving yards and scored his first career touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put Alabama up 49-9.

Along with Metchie and Holden, Williams also added a chunk of receiving yards. Quarterback Bryce Young said the athleticism of Alabama's wide receiving corps makes his job easier.

"As dynamic of guys as we have, our job is just to get them the ball," Young said. "Try to get the ball in a place where they can run and be special at it, and we saw that a lot tonight."

Robinson Jr. had another big night for the Crimson Tide. He had three total touchdowns, a career long 51-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter and two more on the ground inside the red zone.

After Williams opened the third quarter with the 75-yard touchdown for Alabama, Mississippi State responded with a 12-play drive led by quarterback Will Rogers. Any touchdown hopes were dashed by another sack of Rogers by the Alabama defense.

It looked like Mississippi State might finally score a touchdown with the clock winding down in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs last sliver of optimism for the end zone was killed with Battle's second interception of the night with 2:29 left in the game. It was Rogers third interception of the night.

Saban said the defense implemented a new trips coverage in practice this week called "thief," which was the coverage they were in for Battle's first interception.

"We practiced that route concept all week, and it helped me create some turnovers today," Battle said.

On the other sideline, Young was 20-28 for 348 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions for Alabama. He also had a couple of nice rushes including a 13-yard run on third down inside the red zone.

Saban has been asking for a complete 60-minute game, and this was the closest Alabama has come to meeting that goal. The head coach seemed very pleased after the game.

"I told them this after the game, you don’t want to forget how you felt last week because you responded the right way, so let's make sure we continue to build on what we just did," Saban said.