Tag Archives: Mississippi State

And now, a look at my game story from Saturday’s affair:

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The defensive struggle continued Saturday night.

Snapping out of a late-season slumber, Alabama found enough offense to escape Starkville with slim title hopes intact.

A 24-7 win over Mississippi State was hardly a masterpiece, but one wasn’t necessary with the Crimson Tide defense on the field.

The Bulldogs mustered just 131 yards — 12 on the ground thanks to five sacks — as the guests responded swiftly to the 9-6 overtime loss to LSU a week earlier. It was still a bit of an adventure for the No. 4 team in the nation.

Tide kickers missed their first two field-goal attempts after a stagnant start for the offense that lacked rhythm in the first half. There was an interception and long kickoff return, but Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy helped the team break out of the funk to some degree after halftime.

“We didn’t play a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination,” coach Nick Saban said. “We had too many mistakes. We played extremely well defensively and made enough plays on offense, but we should have finished a few more drives and scored some more points early in the game.”

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Take a look at today’s GameDay section story about Alabama’s offense coming off its worst outing in memory:

TUSCALOOSA — Not always exciting, but consistently effective.

That was the tenor of Alabama’s offense through eight games, churning out 39 points a contest.

But last Saturday, the machine malfunctioned. Possessions hit a brick wall near the LSU 30-yard line in the 9-6 overtime loss. The Crimson Tide failed to score a touchdown for only the second time in head coach Nick Saban’s five years with the program.

“When we did things correctly, we moved the ball really nicely,” Saban said. “We had over 300 yards until the last series, when we went backwards in two-minute drill. There were some good things done. I just think there were too many occasions where we didn’t do things the way they were supposed to be done, and I’m hopeful that the players will see that the importance comes in execution.”

A week’s worth of introspection and evaluation later, the Tide travels west to Starkville, Miss., to face Mississippi State (5-4, 1-4 SEC).

Eliminating the negative plays is the first priority.

LSU didn’t have the most tackles in the backfield among Alabama’s nine opponents, but all six tackles for loss the Tigers did have came in critical situations. Five came in LSU territory, and each directly led to either a punt or long missed field goal attempt.

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Mississippi State coach said the following on the SEC media teleconference:

• “We need everyone in the state of Mississippi,” Mullen said of the support necessary Saturday.
• Tuscaloosa product Brandon Wilson is a the ultimate worker to go from walk-on to star in Mississippi State program.
• Missouri is good for SEC.
• “They deserve all the hype they’re getting. They’re one of the top two teams in the country,” Mullen on Alabama.
• The hype on Alabama is real.

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Here’s a taste of what Nick Saban just said on the weekly SEC media teleconference:

• On Joe Paterno retirement: “It wouldn’t be appropriate” to make comments. All the concern should be about the kids, he said.
• Miss. State only lost to ranked teams and Starkville is always hard place to play, Saban said.
• Recovering from intense game is a weekly routine. Stretch and stride is part of the Sunday routine after a game on their own. “It takes a couple days to come back from any game you play.”
• Barrett Jones is day to day, Kirkpatrick, Smelley and Maze practiced yesterday.
• “We were good friends and he was a helluva lot better player than I was,” on Missouri coach Gary Pinkel — Saban’s teammate at Kent State.
• “We have respect for both of their quarterbacks,” Saban said on the two passers at Mississippi State.
• Trent Richardson has “it.”
• Players focused on lot of football left on schedule, not potential BCS scenarios that could keep title hopes alive.

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Just a week ago we were talking about four-figure ticket prices for LSU at Alabama. So it looks like a fire sale for the Crimson Tide’s follow up.

You can attend the Mississippi State game for as little as $60 a person, according to a quick look at StubHub.com.

Lower bowl tickets for the relatively small Davis Wade Stadium start at $100. Two tickets on eBay are priced as low as $81 for the pair.

The Bulldogs disappointing 5-4 record and the hangover for Alabama fans likely drove down demand for this one.

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