When you win a game by 24 points, usually there’s nothing to complain about. No. 6 Alabama took down No. 24 Mississippi State University 30-6 on Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium — but much was left to be desired. 

The Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1 SEC) didn’t ever lose control of the game, but it felt like it could have been much worse for the Bulldogs. 

“I challenged [the team] in terms of how they were going to respond — it wasn’t always perfect execution, but to me that’s a start,” head coach Nick Saban said. “It’s kind of time to answer the bell, and now the challenge is we need to build on [this].” 

Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3 SEC) didn’t play its best game at all. The Bulldogs electric “air raid” offense didn’t create many problems for the Alabama defense. Mississippi State finished the game with 293 total yards, and only 62 in the rushing category. 

This has almost everything to do with the Crimson Tide defense, which was nearly impeccable following its performance last week. After allowing 52 points — the most under head coach Nick Saban — Alabama came out ready to prove to the world that its previous game was a fluke. 

“I thought the defense played really well,” Saban said. 

“They gave up six points. I think that’s pretty good,” he said. 

NFL Draft-hopeful quarterback Will Rogers had no answer for the Crimson Tide pass rush. Alabama sacked Rogers four times and picked up six tackles for loss and seven quarterback hurries. When he didn’t get sacked, Rogers completed just 30 of 60 pass attempts for 231 yards. Coming into Saturday, Rogers was leading the SEC in passing yards, completions and touchdowns by a fairly large margin. 

Rogers didn’t fare well against the Crimson Tide secondary either. After allowing 385 yards and five touchdowns to Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, Alabama’s defensive backs were hungry to respond — and they did. 

The Crimson Tide defense broke up 15 passes. Rogers completed just 50% of his passes after coming into the game with a career completion percentage of over 72%. 

“We executed pretty well,” linebacker Henry To’o To’o said. “Everybody was locked in — everybody was doing their job. Holding them to a zero is what our goal was, so we’ve got to finish.” 

Mississippi State scored its six points on the final play of the game. That upset To’o To’o and the rest of the defense. 

“I was kind of pissed off, not going to lie,” To’o To’o said. “We just got to finish. That’s one of our big things.” 

“We hold ourselves to a higher standard,” he said. “That wasn’t Alabama football at the end of the game.” 

The defense was sensational — that was not the question mark. The offense was. 

After storming out to a 24-0 lead, the Alabama offense did close to nothing in the second half. Even after the Bulldogs went 10-for-28 on third and fourth downs — and fumbled a punt — the Crimson Tide couldn’t make them pay for it. Surefire touchdowns turned into field goals. A lot of balls were thrown away by Bryce Young. The Crimson Tide had 29 rushing yards on 27 carries. 

“[We] couldn’t run the ball very well tonight,” Saban said. “Thats something we need to improve on.” 

“We didn’t play very well with any consistency on offense,” he said. 

Bizarrely enough, Alabama was outgained on the night by Mississippi State, 293-290. 

“Our defense played amazing,” Young said. “Offensively, we did some good things, but we had some possessions where we stalled a little bit.” 

“We’ve got to be more consistent,” he said. “I think it’s just consistency. We want to be the best unit we can be.” 

In its biggest games this season, Alabama has been a one-dimensional team. One week the offense flourishes but the defense fails. The next, the offense struggles while the defense dominates. 

Continuing to play like that will not help the Crimson Tide’s chances at a 19th national championship. 

The good news for Alabama? The bye week is here. All of the things that have haunted the Crimson Tide so far this season will be addressed and worked on, and the Crimson Tide will get two weeks off from game action. 

Alabama won’t be back in Bryant-Denny Stadium until Nov. 19 against Austin Peay State University. Before that, the Crimson Tide has road dates in Baton Rouge and Oxford against LSU and Ole Miss. Those two games will likely determine who emerges from the SEC West to play in the SEC Championship. 

After a grueling eight weeks, Alabama is sure to enjoy its two weeks off.

Questions or comments? Email Austin Hannon (Sports Editor) at [email protected]