From then on, faced with fading championship hopes, the defensive backs began to turn things around, developing into a ball-hawking squad that helped the team cruise against Texas A&M and help save the Crimson Tide’s season in Baton Rouge. After struggling in the early games, cornerback Cyrus Jones developed into one of the top defenders in the SEC.
Jones was matched up against one of the top receivers in the country on Saturday: Birmingham native De’Runnya Wilson, who, at 6-foot-5, is seven inches taller than Jones. Jones came away with a touchdown-saving interception in the end zone, two pass break-ups and four tackles, helping lead Alabama to a 25-20 win over the then-No. 1 Bulldogs.
“It was a collective job, all together, like each and every week,” Jones said. “We just try to prepare well in practice, study our game plan, and be on top of things mentally when we come in. That’s the biggest thing; we just went out there and tried to execute what we’ve been taught.”
Alabama’s defense managed to keep one of the top offenses in the country, led by Heisman candidate quarterback Dak Prescott, out of the end zone for three quarters, not conceding a touchdown until the beginning of the fourth. The Crimson Tide picked off Prescott three times, recorded five tackles for loss and opened the scoring with a first-quarter safety after tackling Bulldogs running back Josh Robinson in the end zone.
“We’ve definitely improved a lot,” Jones said. “I just think we had a bunch of new guys who hadn’t been out there with each other a lot over a couple of years. Just like any kind of group, you need time to just gel as a whole unit and I think that time has given us just that.”
Sims leads vital drive. Again.
When the team needed him most, Blake Sims stepped up again. Mississippi State had crawled back to within a touchdown of tying, an extra point of going ahead. A 19-13 lead with 14:16 remaining in the game wasn’t enough to put it away.
Alabama needed a drive to quiet the Bulldogs.
Alabama got a drive.
The drive was 15 plays, spanned 76 yards and drained just over six minutes from the clock. Three times on third down, Sims made a play. The first was an eight-yard pass to running back T.J. Yeldon to get a first down. The second was a 10-yard run on third-and-eight. Finally, on third-and-long, Sims got a first down on an 11-yard rush.
“You look at this week, those third downs that [Sims] converts, you know if we don’t convert those, we end up punting, and putting the defense back out there against a pretty good Mississippi State offense, you know for him to get it done that way, and we didn’t give him all the time in the world today, but I think that’s where his legs come to part, really a dual-threat quarterback,” offensive lineman Austin Shepherd said.
The drive ended with a touchdown to make the score 25-13.
“That was probably one of the greatest drives in Alabama history to go down there and make it a two score game in the fourth quarter,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.
That day, the Crimson Tide netted 335 yards on 63 plays. Yeldon led the rushing game with 72 yards and one touchdown.
Sims was 19-for-31 for 211 yards and a touchdown. His longest throw was 50 yards to wide receiver Amari Cooper to put Alabama at Mississippi State’s one-yard line. The Crimson Tide scored on the next play, a one-yard push by running back Derrick Henry.
Cooper finished the day with eight catches for 88 yards. For his career he has 3,039 yards receiving.
Alabama was 5 of 14 on third down conversions, three of which came in the drive to put the game away.
“It was a great win for our team, our players, our fans, our university and everyone in the organization. I think any time you beat the No. 1 team in the country, that’s a significant accomplishment,” Saban said. “I was really proud of how our players competed in the game.”
