Much More Disciplined Alabama Team Against Mississippi State

A week after committing a school record 17 penalties, Alabama held to just three, including two in the final minutes, against Mississippi State.

Edwin Stanton | Oct 23, 2022

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Whatever issues Alabama had last week, it transferred over to Mississippi State.

The Crimson Tide had a miserable experience in Knoxville, committing 17 penalties, losing the ball on a punt return, and not having an effective pass rush in a 52-49 loss to Tennessee.

Alabama had none of those issues Saturday. Instead, Mississippi State was the one making the mistakes with 10 penalties, giving the ball back to Alabama on a muffed punt return and allowing Alabama to harass quarterback Will Rogers all night with a relentless pass rush.

What changed for Alabama?

“They went out and competed, had fun and didn’t have a lot of anxiety,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “When you play with anxiety, you make a lot of bad decisions.”

There was plenty of anxiety last week in the loss to Tennessee.

Not on Saturday.

“Coach (Saban) harped on it all week. He was ripping us apart,” Alabama linebacker Henry To’oTo’o said. “That’s one thing we have to focus on, being a more disciplined team. We knew we had to come out with positive energy for the entire week to turn the page from last week.”

Alabama entered Saturday as the most penalized team in the nation. A school record 17 of the Crimson Tide’s 66 total penalties came against Tennessee.

Alabama was flagged for off sides, holding, pass interference; you name it, the Crimson Tide was flagged for it.

“As a defense, we said when is it enough? At some point it has to be enough,” Alabama defensive back DeMarcco Hellams said. “We took that attitude at practice of being consistent and making sure everyone does their job to the highest level.”

On Saturday, the Crimson Tide was guilty of just one infraction in the first 48 minutes against Mississippi State—illegal formation on the first possession. For the rest of the game the refs kept the flags in their pocket until the final MSU drive. Twice Alabama was flagged for pass interference.

“The emphasis was playing 60 minutes and not looking at the scoreboard and play one play at a time,” Saban said. “I think they did that, but we had some opportunities to make plays on that final drive and we didn’t. They took advantage of it.”

Alabama was better in the penalty department, but it might have something to do with home games. Road games are the issue. Alabama was flagged 15 times at Texas and 10 times at Arkansas. That adds up to 47 penalties in three road games and 22 in five home games, counting Saturday.

The Alabama pass rush was among the best in the nation before the Knoxville disaster. Alabama got just one sack and zero quarterback pressures on the Vols’ Hendon Hooker.

On Saturday, Alabama regained its form. MSU quarterback Will Rogers was sacked four times and hurried six times. Alabama totaled six tackles for loss (33 yards).

Also before the Tennessee game, Alabama led the SEC and was second in the nation on third-down conversion defense (21 of 93, 22.6%). Tennessee was 5 of 10 on third down but Alabama held Mississippi State to 7 of 22 conversions.

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