Alabama posted its best win of the season, beating No. 16 Mississippi State 56-23 in Starkville. The Tide dominated, holding an early 14-0 lead and never looking back.
I want to start by giving credit to this Alabama team; they played one of the most complete games of the year and did a great job containing Kamario Taylor. If anything, Keelon Russell looked like the better quarterback. Russell was 16/22 with 3 Touchdowns, but more importantly, he looked phenomenal on the deep ball. He added another touchdown on the ground and, most importantly, finished the game with zero turnovers.
That’s what made the difference in this game. Mississippi State was incredibly sloppy on both sides of the ball and didn’t look like a ranked team at home. All week, media members like Josh Pate have been lecturing AP voters about why Mississippi State isn’t a top-10 team, and it never made sense to me.
Mississippi State beat two average and below-average SEC opponents, and as always, the media overrates them just because of their conference. Kamario Taylor can make any play, but he’s also one of the main reasons the Bulldogs lost today. When you’re faced with a Bama offense firing on all cylinders, there’s no way you can get away with a three-turnover performance.
We’ve already seen that Mississippi State’s defense is flawed. Alabama wasn’t the first team to do whatever they wanted; they are just that. I’m not saying Mississippi State shouldn’t be in the top 25; even if their current rating wasn’t quite that high, it looked good. I think we were too quick to crown them as a potential playoff team.
On the other hand, Alabama could be the real deal. The defense struggled to slow down the Bulldogs, but timely turnovers made their efforts look stronger than they could have been. Next week will be their biggest test of the year against Georgia, who have completed their easy schedule so far.
I’m way down on Georgia, and with Bama coming in as a three-point opponent at home, I think that’s a great place to pick the Tide. Georgia hasn’t faced a passing attack with a pulse in its first five games, and Keelon Russell looks like a potential Heisman finalist. Whoever emerges from this will be in the driver’s seat for the regular season SEC crown.