Last season Alabama football had a close call a year ago in Starkville, edging Mississippi State on a touchdown with 30-seconds to play. It won’t be as close this time. Here are five reasons the Tide wins comfortably.
To less focused teams, this could easily be seen as a trap game after Alabama’s emphatic 29-0 win over LSU a week ago. The Tide is riding high heading into Saturday’s game against No. 16 Mississippi State, having already clinched the Western Division and a date with Georgia in Atlanta.
It would be easy to start ppeekingahead to the Iron Bowl in two weeks as Alabama looks to avenge last season’s loss at Auburn, or even peering further into the future of their national championship rematch with Georgia that will likely decide the SEC’s playoff representative.
Week 11 has often been a stumbling block for top teams looking to make a final playoff push. In the college football playoff era, at least three Top 10 teams have fallen during Week 11 in every season. Last year, we saw No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 Notre Dame go down with humbling defeats to Auburn and Miami, respectively.
Alabama was nearly included in the chaotic weekend, but a touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith with 25-seconds remaining lifted the Tide to a narrow 31-24 win over Mississippi State in a game they trailed throughout.
Last week was supposed to be the week that Alabama finally faced adversity as they went on the road to take on then No. 3 LSU in one of college football’s most hostile environments. Instead, Alabama did what they’ve done all season in a thorough beatdown of the Bayou Bengals.
Nick Saban coached teams rarely lose focus and get caught looking ahead against teams they should dispatch relatively easily. The Bulldogs offer a unique challenge with their brutal physicality, which could cause some problems for a team with some nagging injuries like Alabama.
But if last week proved anything, it’s that the gap between Alabama and the rest of college football looks wider than ever. In the very least, the gap between the Tide and the rest of the SEC West is as big as it has ever been, and I don’t see Mississippi State changing that this weekend.
Here’s five reasons Alabama continues its dominance: