Under coach Nick Saban, the Alabama Crimson Tide does not lose often, but when they do, they probably have a pretty good idea of who they will play in their next game.
Coming off tough road losses last weekend, No. 6 Alabama and No. 24 Mississippi State will meet in a Southeastern Conference contest Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Since Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007, there have been six occasions when the Crimson Tide have lost and then faced Mississippi State the following week.
Alabama (6-1, 3-1) met the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2) last year after losing at Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide also faced them after losing at home to LSU in 2019. Now, the matchup follows a road defeat vs. Tennessee — Saban’s first to the Volunteers in 16 career meetings as Alabama’s coach.
Alabama’s demise at Knoxville came down to a missed 50-yard field with 15 seconds left, multiple penalties and poor defense. Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker passed for 385 yards and five touchdowns, all to wideout Jalin Hyatt.
“I don’t think the no-huddle offense was the issue for us,” Saban said after his squad’s 52-49 loss and a wild post-game celebration at Neyland Stadium. “It was covering their receivers and allowing way too many big plays. … Guys got to play with better focus, better leverage and got to cover people better.”
Mississippi State coach Mike Leach was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Tennessee coach Josh Heupel when the latter played quarterback at Oklahoma in 1999.
Leach recognized a few plays the Volunteers ran in the Alabama upset from his Oklahoma days, saying: “I can think of a play in particular that we ran back in the day. (Heupel’s) got his quarterback running that play better than he ran it.”
Against Tennessee, the Crimson Tide committed 17 penalties for 130 yards — more than the 114 they rushed for.
Alabama’s fall to sixth in the latest Top 25 poll ended the team’s streak of 40 weeks inside the top five, an active streak currently owned by No. 1 Georgia (24).
The 52 points was the most scored against Alabama since Sewanee hung 54 on the Crimson Tide in 1907.
After losing to the Bulldogs in his first meeting in 2007, Saban has won 14 straight – with only two being one-score games (25-20 in 2014 and 31-24 in 2017).
The Bulldogs likely will be the lone ranked team to come to Tuscaloosa in 2022 — FCS Austin Peay and Auburn (3-4) will finish the home slate — but Leach’s group also is licking its wounds.
On Saturday at Kentucky, the Wildcats grounded the dangerous aerial assault of Mississippi State star passer Will Rogers. The junior quarterback, who started the game averaging 351.7 yards per outing, was held in check — completing 25 of 37 throws for 203 yards with a TD and an interception.
Rogers’ 70 career TD passes ties him with Dak Prescott (2012-15) for the most in school history. Rogers needs 338 yards to eclipse Prescott’s milestone of 9,376 total passing yards.
The Bulldogs failed to contain Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. (30 carries for 196 yards, two TDs), who helped keep the ball out of Rogers’ hand as the Wildcats dominated the time of possession, 39:22 to 20:38.
–Field Level Media
