The cowbells were still ringing as the clock expired Saturday night in Davis Wade Stadium. The Mississippi State faithful had something to cheer about.
Alabama won the game 20-7, but the Bulldogs held the top-ranked Crimson Tide to its lowest point total of the season and its second smallest margin of victory.
“When the home crowd is cheering after a loss, then you definitely didn’t do your job,” wide receiver Kevin Norwood said.
Players hung their heads coming off the field and out of the locker room after the game, and the attitude of the team and coach Nick Saban did not resemble that of a team that won its 10th game of the regular season.
“We won the game, but we didn’t really beat the other team, if that makes any sense,” Saban said. “That’s really not how we usually try to do it. There’s a lot that our players can learn from this, in terms of how prepared they were.”
Turnovers plagued the Alabama offense throughout the night, as the Crimson Tide turned the ball over four times.
Quarterback AJ McCarron threw two interceptions, with his second mistake thrown entirely off his back foot and into coverage.
Sophomore running backs T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake both lost one fumble, tarnishing a rather dominant rushing performance from Yeldon and the offensive line. Both backs have four fumbles on the season, with each losing three of them.
“We did some horrible things on offense, things we can get better at it,” Norwood said.
Alabama only amassed 383 yards of total offense against Mississippi State and was 4-of-12 on third-down conversions.
But the offense was not alone in its on-the-field struggles Saturday night.
The defense could not force the Bulldogs off the field, allowing them more than 29 minutes with the football. The Crimson Tide was also flagged for five penalties worth 41 yards.
“The defense made a lot of mental errors,” safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix said. “We covered pretty well but had a lot of penalties, facemasks and stuff like that, just not playing our way.”
Alabama is known to play sluggish following its annual battle with LSU, and it is easy to overlook Mississippi State (4-6, 1-5 SEC) with the much-anticipated Iron Bowl looming at the end of the regular season schedule.
But the Crimson Tide played just well enough to remain undefeated, and the players said they will use this game as a wake-up call as the 2013-14 season comes to a close.
“It was good for us to struggle and still get a win,” McCarron said. “That always helps your team to bounce back from that. It kind of reminds you you’re not as good as you think.”
