You'll see the narrative flip in the coming days that Mississippi State, which came into Saturday's matchup against Alabama with a ton of hype and only as a 5.5-point underdog, wasn't that good to begin with. The media will want to discredit Alabama as much as they can.
Let them. It doesn't matter.
Because the Crimson Tide team that waltzed into Starkville on Saturday afternoon and bludgeoned the Bulldogs by 33 points is a legitimate national championship contender. And they are just getting better and better every week.
Keelon Russell outdueled Kamario Taylor in the highly anticipated QB matchup. He took care of the football, threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-22 passing, and added another rushing score.
But the big difference between the two was the supporting cast. Alabama ran the ball effectively from the first snap, while Mississippi State could never find any green grass. While losing Fluff Bothwell right away was a blow, Alabama's defense was swarming and eating up any openings. Mississippi State finished with just 18 rushing yards on the day.
Alabama's defense forced turnovers on Mississippi State's first two possessions, recovering a fumble by Taylor and turning it into a Russell to Ryan Coleman-Williams touchdown. A Dijon Lee pick-six on the next possession pushed Alabama's lead to 14-0, and the game was rarely in doubt from there.
The Tide played with its food a little too much throughout the first half, but came out swinging in the second half with a touchdown drive, another interception of Taylor, and another touchdown to effectively put the game to bed.
Alabama gains a margin for error with a 5-0 start ahead of difficult stretch of games
Looking at the schedule in the preseason, it looked like Kalen DeBoer and company would need to get out to a 5-0 start to have a legitimate chance of making the College Football Playoff. Kentucky and Mississippi State being better than preseason projections made the first five games more difficult than originally expected, but the Crimson Tide still got to 5-0.
Now, heading into a four-game stretch vs. Georgia, at Tennessee, vs. Texas A&M, and at LSU, Alabama has a real margin for error. A 5-2 mark through the final seven games would put Alabama in the playoff.
And the way they are playing right now, a 5-2 finish in the last seven would actually be disappointing.
Because this group looks special. It's a young team. The future is unbelievably bright when you look at the youngsters already contributing in a big way. Sophomores like Russell, Lotzeir Brooks, Jackson Lloyd, Michael Carroll, Marshall Pritchett, and Kaleb Edwards are huge pieces of the offense. So, too, are freshmen Trae'shawn Brown and EJ Crowell.
And even on an experienced defense, youngsters like Xavier Griffin, who recorded his first career sack on Saturday, are making an immediate impact.
While there's a plethora of reasons to be fired up about the future, there's also no reason to wait. This team is elite right now.
With Russell looking like the best QB in the country and the rest of the pieces coming along, Alabama is a legitimate title contender, perhaps a year earlier than most expected.
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