After jumping out to the unusual lead of 19-3 at halftime, No. 5 Alabama was under pressure in the fourth quarter, leading No. 1 Mississippi State by only six points while Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott waited on the sideline for his opportunity at a Heisman moment.

Despite throwing two interceptions, Prescott had already dragged the Bulldogs back into the game, leading two scoring drives, and with the Alabama offense suffocating in the 3rd quarter, looked set to have his star-making moment. 

Instead, Alabama’s quarterback put an end to that. 

Receiving the ball on the Alabama 24-yard line, Blake Sims led the Crimson Tide down the field, converting three third downs, including two ten-yard scrambles that showed why the fifth-year senior had once played running back. In the red zone, running back T.J Yeldon took over, rushing four times, scoring on a 7-yard run to put the Crimson Tide up 25-13 with 8 minutes to play. Prescott got his chance, but his two-score margin would be enough to preserve Alabama’s victory, 25-20. 

“[Sims] did a really good job of executing,” Saban said. “He did a good job getting us in the right plays and really did a good job of executing … 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.” 

While Prescott had been receiving the lion’s share of the attention before the game, Sims has shown his ability to lead the Crimson Tide after leading a game-tying drive in the dying seconds of last week’s win over LSU.

“I’ve always trusted Blake,” Saban said. “Blake’s got great instincts in terms of where to throw the ball, timing of throwing the ball. We showed a lot of trust in him when it was 3rd down and 11 or 12 at the end of the game and he threw the ball. We came up a yard short on first down and made a good decision on it. I trust Blake to make good decisions and he has a great instinct and a great feel, as most scrambling quarterbacks too, of when to run. He made two fantastic third down conversions running the ball. We trust Blake.” 

Sims finished the day with 19-of-31 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown, adding 25 yards with his legs. All told, Alabama’s offense finished with 335 yards – below its season average of 472 yards per game, but up from last week’s 315. After the offense went quiet in the third quarter for the second consecutive week, Sims credited the defense with putting Alabama in position to win. 

“We made big-time plays at the right time and the guys fought hard,” Sims said. “The defense made a great stand for us to have that drive. I’m just proud of the way that the whole team played.”

Faced with the prospect of stopping a Heisman-favorite quarterback and one of the top offenses in the country, Alabama’s defense came up big, forcing three interceptions from Prescott and opening the game’s scoring with a safety in the first quarter. 

“This is a really good football team that we played today and it’s really hard to stop,” Saban said. “I think our defense did a fantastic job of holding them to 13 points until 15 seconds to go in the game. We were trying to shrink the game in the end. Would have been great to stop them, but we did it well enough that even if they got the onside kick it wouldn’t have given them a whole lot of time to score. Can’t tell you how proud I am of the way our players competed in the game.” 

Alabama’s secondary has gone from its weakest link to an undeniable strength in recent weeks, recording seven interceptions in the last five games and breaking up crucial passes against both LSU and Mississippi State.

“We’ve definitely improved a lot,” cornerback Cyrus 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.” 

Alabama’s special teams were vital on the night, with punter JK Scott pinning Mississippi State inside the 20-yard line five times, and Mississippi State never started ahead of its own 25-yard line. The special teams clinched the game for Alabama when receiver DeAndrew White recovered an onside kick, giving Alabama the ball with nothing to do but go into victory formation, sealing the win to the sound of Jay Z’s “On to the Next One.”