No mental letdown was carried over from its win over Louisiana State University, as Alabama returned to Bryant-Denny Stadium and dominated Mississippi State in the first half.
Despite last year’s matchup going down to the wire, defensive standouts Isaiah Buggs, Quinnen Williams, Christian Miller, LaBryan Ray and Jared Mayden are making sure that does not happen again.
The five combined for four sacks of quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, including one full sack for Buggs, Williams and Mayden.
For the redshirt sophomore, it’s Williams’ fifth sack of the year – adding to the conversation of him being the most dominant nose tackle in college football.
Aside from Williams and Buggs, cornerback Saivion Smith had two tackles and linebacker Dylan Moses had three stops to help lead the team.
Alabama’s defense held the Bulldogs to 85 yards offensively, while limiting it to 24 yards rushing. Although it carried a 21-0 lead into halftime, the Crimson Tide’s offense must to a better job protecting Tua Tagovailoa. The sophomore quarterback was sacked twice and knocked down a couple of times.
However, Tagovailoa did advance in the Tide’s record book as he tossed his 28th scoring pass of the season.
This placed him in a tie with Blake Sims (2014) and AJ McCarron (2013) for second-most touchdown passes in a single season at Alabama. He completed 10 of 14 passes for 127 yards with one score. Josh Jacobs leads the Tide rushing attack with 45 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries, while Damien Harris had 33 yards with a score on seven attempts.
Irv Smith anchors Alabama in receiving with four catches for 65 yards.
Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy has 36 yards on four catches and Jacobs totaled one catch that went for a 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
The Tide out gained Mississippi State, 216-85 in the first half, but head coach Nick Saban looks for his guys to finish the job in the second half.
Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
