Mississippi State vs. Alabama: Score and Twitter Reaction
No. 5 Alabama (9-1) held off a second-half charge from No. 1 Mississippi State (9-1) to move atop the SEC West and greatly improve its playoff chances with a 25-20 victory.
Now the waiting game for the next set of rankings begins. Alabama should move safely into a playoff spot, but it's unknown how high it will rise. On the flip side, where Mississippi State will land after the loss will be a major talking point for next few days.
| Bulldogs | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 20 |
| Crimson Tide | 5 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 25 |
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
As expected, there was plenty of hype leading up to the marquee clash. Alabama also had some extra questions to answer after the College Football Playoff Selection Committee moved TCU past the Tide and into one of the coveted top-four positions for Week 12.
The tone from head coach Nick Saban remained the same, though. Michael Casagrande of AL.com passed along comments from the four-time national champion, who kept the focus of his players on taking care of their own business and not worrying about the current standings.
"We have to play really, really good teams in our league and we have a couple of really, really good teams that we have to play to finish the season, starting with the team that we play this week," Saban said. "The emphasis is, if you have success against the teams that you have to play, all those things are going to take care of themselves."
That said, Alabama certainly came out like a team looking to make a statement, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
There was some concern about how the Tide defense would handle the uptempo pace of the Bulldogs along with the dual-threat ability of quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Crimson Tide forced a punt on MSU's first drive. Then, after moving the ball into Mississippi State territory on offense, Alabama pinned the Bulldogs deep in their own end with a nice punt by JK Scott.
Two plays later Alabama was on the board first. Josh Robinson tried to bounce outside on a run up the middle but was swarmed by a group of Crimson Tide defenders in the end zone for a safety.
Yahoo's Dr. Saturday highlighted the effort by the Alabama defense:
The Tide also took advantage of the ensuing possession with a field goal to make it 5-0. Adam Griffith connected from 36 yards to continue his recent return to form, as noted by Ivan Maisel of ESPN:
Interestingly, Robinson, who heard about his mistake on the safety loud and clear on the sideline, didn't get a touch on the next possession for Mississippi State. The result was a three-and-out, but Alabama couldn't capitalize on good field position.
Skip Bayless of ESPN's First Take pointed out the absence of the team's leading rusher:
Following a string of defensive stands for both sides, Alabama scored the game's first touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Blake Sims was perfect on the drive, completing all four passes. It started with a 35-yard dart down the middle to Jalston Fowler and finished with a perfectly placed toss to Amari Cooper from four yards out to make it 12-0.
Chase Goodbread of NFL.com had some high praise for the junior wideout after the score:
Cooper lived up to that standard once again on the next drive. After another punt by the Bulldogs, Sims took a deep shot to his favorite target, and Cooper pulled it down in tight coverage at the 1-yard line.
Derrick Henry plunged into the end zone on the next play but not without some drama. The initial ruling was a Mississippi State fumble recovery, but further review showed the sophomore rusher had crossed the goal line before losing the ball.
Alabama Football celebrated the overturned call:
Mississippi State got on the scoreboard before halftime. Head coach Dan Mullen took a chance by going for it on 4th-and-3 from the Alabama 44. Prescott converted it with a run to the outside. The Bulldogs ended up getting the ball all the way down to the 1 but only came away with a field goal.
Colin Cowherd of ESPN clearly wasn't impressive with Prescott's work in the red zone:
Nevertheless the field goal kept Mississippi State within two scores at halftime, 19-3.
The Bulldogs received the ball to start the second half and put together a second straight solid drive. It was highlighted by a 30-yard connection from Prescott to Malcolm Johnson. They bogged down once again in scoring range, though, and had to settle for another field goal.
ESPN SEC stated what most people were probably thinking:
"Mississippi State can't settle for FGs all game and expect to win.
— ESPN SEC (@ESPN_SEC) November 15, 2014"
After Griffith missed a field goal for Alabama, Mississippi State embarked on another extended drive. The Tide defense toughened up once it reached the red zone, though.
This time it was Cyrus Jones who came up with the big play, an interception in the end zone after a poor decision and throw from Prescott.
The Bulldogs' defense stood tall after the turnover, forcing an extremely quick three-and-out by the Tide to get the ball back in good field position.
This time the MSU offense capitalized on it. A nice change-of-direction route by Fred Ross allowed him to get wide open, and Prescott found him for the four-yard score.
As Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated wrote, at that point it was game on:
The score seemed to awaken what had become a dormant Alabama offense. It proceeded to put together a 15-play, 76-yard drive to answer the Bulldogs' score.
Sims came up with a trio of crucial third-down conversions to keep the drive alive. The first came on a completion to T.J. Yeldon, and then twice in a row on 3rd-and-long he escaped from the pocket to move the chains with his feet.
The end result, after eating up more than six minutes of clock, was a Yeldon seven-yard touchdown run.
Steve Layman of Newschannel 5 summed up the effort:
Mississippi State, which had little trouble moving the ball in the second half, got down to the Alabama 20 on the ensuing drive. But a tipped ball at the line turned to gold for the Tide, as Landon Collins picked it off to stop the drive in its tracks. It was Prescott's third interception.
After forcing a punt, the Bulldogs scored a touchdown to get back within one score with 15 seconds left, but they did not recover the onside kick to keep the comeback bid alive.
NBC Sports passed along word of the final score:
Looking ahead, Alabama faces off with what should be a completely overmatched Western Carolina squad next week. That's followed by another crucial SEC clash, however, as the Tide welcome Auburn to Tuscaloosa for the latest edition of the Iron Bowl.
It's a similar story for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs return home for a game with Vanderbilt they should win. Then they go back out on the road to face rival Ole Miss in a matchup that could have plenty of SEC and playoff implications.
In other words, there's still plenty to get decided as the regular season winds toward its conclusion.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
