Mississippi State’s heart and passion were not enough Saturday. Alabama’s brutal rushing attack and dominating defense overwhelmed State 30-14 in front of a capacity crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“We had incompletions. We had penalties,” said head coach Sylvester Croom about his Dawgs, who had 10 penalties for 80 yards and 13 incomplete passes. “Our guys just haven’t learned to discipline themselves into doing the little things right.”
It was obvious from the start what the Tide wanted to do-run the ball.
Alabama rushed the ball 47 times for 260 yards. UA running back Kenneth Darby racked up a career high 200 yards on 37 carries and had one of Alabama’s three touchdowns.
“Words can’t express it. It feels good,” Darby said. “Our minds have been on it this week-getting the sixth win to become bowl eligible.”
With the win, Alabama (6-3) became bowl eligible for the first time in three seasons. The Tide’s future schedule features LSU (6-2) next week and Auburn (9-0) in the last game of the season.
State running back Jerious Norwood rushed for 96 yards on 23 carries, which included a 50-yard touchdown scamper. Norwood moved into ninth place in Mississippi State’s career rushing chart. The junior halfback has amassed 1,953 rushing yards in his career as a Bulldog.
The passing game was about even for both teams. Tide quarterback Spencer Pennington attempted just 15 passes and completed nine of those for 119 yards and a touchdown. Pennington was intercepted twice, but State’s offense didn’t capitalize on either turnover.
MSU quarterback Omar Conner finished the night seven of 20 for 114 yards and a touchdown.
State jumped on top of the Tide 7-0 early in the first quarter when Norwood saw a hole, cut back to midfield and blew past the No. 1 ranked Alabama secondary for a 50-yard touchdown on his second carry of the night.
The Bulldogs’ opening scoring drive, which marked only the second time the Tide’s defense has given up a touchdown on the first drive of the game, took four plays, covered 82 yards and took less than two minutes.
“Coach told us to relax,” said Alabama defensive lineman Wallace Gilberry said. “Not every game is a shutout.”
Gilberry got three of Alabama’s five sacks on Conner, who was also rushed five times.
After Norwood’s touchdown, Mississippi State went six possessions without scoring. State dug themselves into deep holes on first and second downs. The Dawgs’ faced four third downs over 10 yards, including third downs of 22 and 23 yards, none of which they converted to first downs.
“The (Bama) defense is good but our offense moved the ball against them,” Croom said. “We improved in the passing game but we still have a long way to go. Sometimes the throw was there and we dropped the football. Sometimes guys were open and we didn’t make the throw.”
Conner had his second straight dismal game throwing. Although he wasn’t intercepted, he made four throws out of the 20 attempted that were either overthrown or were behind the intended receiver.
“You can see why they have the No. 1 defense in the nation,” Conner said after the game. “They have a lot of players that go to the ball. They wrap up and make plays.”
The Tide defense came into the game allowing only 221 yard to opponents. Mississippi State gained 240 total offensive yards.
Alabama picked up its first first down of the game on their third possession of the night. On that same drive the Tide was faced with a third down and goal from State’s seven-yard line. Spencer Pennington’s fade pass was overthrown and Bama was forced to suffice with a 24-yard field goal by Brian Bostick.
Alabama’s next drive mirrored MSU’s opening touchdown drive of the game. The Tide drove 82 yards on four plays in 1:33. Wide receiver Tyrone Prothro, who played running back in high school, took the snap and bolted down the sideline crossing the goal line for a 22-yard touchdown.
The Tide cashed in their third score in three possessions when Darby ripped through the middle of the Dawg defense for a 15-yard touchdown.
“Ken Darby is real shifty,” said State defensive tackle Ronald Fields said. “He’s like Cadillac Williams.”
Pennington hooked up with receiver Keith Brown for a 40-yard gain to get the Tide into Bulldog territory at the 32-yard line. Darby took over from there, running for 33 yards on his next three touches including his 15-yard TD rush.
The MSU defense held Bama to a three and out on the opening possession of the second half. The Bulldog offense took over at their 46-yard line and drove down inside the UA 30-yard line. On a second and 10 Conner floated a pass to Tee Milons, who made a basket catch at the goal line to pull State within three points of the Tide, 17-14.
But Bama came right back down the field on a 22-yard completion from Pennington to a wide open Prothro. After the play Bulldog defensive linemen Gabe O’Neal was penalized for a late hit that moved the ball down to State’s 21-yard line. The Bulldog defense held Bama to four yards on the next three plays and Bostick booted his second field goal with 5:24 to play in the third quarter.
The Dawgs went three and out and had to punt the ball back over to Bama on the next series. Bostick kick his third field goal of the game when he booted a 47-yarder, which put the Tide up 23-14 with 7:19 left in the game.
On the ensuing drive Mississippi State second string running back Fred Reid fumbled the ball at the MSU nine-yard line. Reid’s fumble led to Pennington’s only touchdown pass and clinched the Tide’s fourth consecutive victory over the Bulldogs.