The Alabama football program has once again reached “dynasty is dead” levels of despair. Redemption may only be achieved if the Tide can win out, but that long and treacherous road begins with one game.
Alabama Football is 10-1 (and 5-0 in regular season games) under Nick Saban following a regular season loss in the past decade. Mississippi State has been on the receiving end of several vengeful Crimson Tide teams. Most recently was a 49-9 defeat in Starkville last season a week after Alabama lost to Texas A&M.
The Bulldogs are a good team and will present a challenge for Alabama on both sides of the ball. A convincing win over Mike Leach’s squad would be nothing to sneeze at if the Tide can take care of business in Bryant-Denny.
Mississippi State is ranked no. 24 in the latest AP poll, as well as in the coaches poll. Similar to Alabama, the Bulldogs are coming off of a respectable road loss to a ranked team in Kentucky.
The loss dropped State, who had also previously lost to LSU, to 5-2 on the season and 2-2 in the SEC. In its most impressive wins of the season, Mississippi State blew out SEC West opponents Texas A&M and Arkansas in consecutive weeks by a combined score of 82-41. This is an even wider margin than Alabama beat those two schools by (73-46), with the caveat being that Alabama played six of those eight quarters without Bryce Young.
A loss to Alabama this weekend would be Mississippi State’s third conference loss, which would eliminate the Bulldogs from SEC West championship contention.
Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0) and LSU (5-2, 3-1) also square off this weekend. If Ole Miss takes care of the Tigers, they would maintain their lead in the divisional race with Alabama trailing closely behind. If LSU can defeat the Rebels, it would create a three-way tie for first place between Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU.
Tough November road trips to Ole Miss and LSU are still on the docket for Alabama Football, and could very easily become games with huge postseason implications.
It goes without saying that a loss to Mississippi State would effectively end Alabama’s season. This game, and every game that follows it, is now a must-win for the Crimson Tide.
History indicates that there are few things more dangerous than a Nick Saban coached Alabama Football team with its back against the wall. However, the 2022 group will have to prove it can play with that edge.
The Tide will not get any more mulligans, and must win out this season. That all starts this weekend in Bryant-Denny Stadium against Mississippi State.