If you are, for some extremely odd reason, still unclear about how good Alabama is, consider this: you very well might be able to look back on their season and point to this Mississippi State game as their worst result this season.
Alabama’s worst 2018 performance is a 24-point shutout of a ranked team
They’re just that good.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
To be clear: they won the game 24-0.
From a strict margin of victory perspective, the Texas A&M game was Bama’s “worst,” but from a total performance perspective, Mississippi State was the Tide’s biggest speed bump to date.
The Tide finally had a game where they did their version of “just enough to win.”
Alabama scored on their first two drives of the game, and the thing was pretty much over after that. Nick Fitzgerald is a great running quarterback, but if you have to make Mississippi State chase a game, well ...
The Bulldogs went one of 13 on third down, six of which were third and greater than 9. They only ran 50 plays, at a 3.4 yard-per-play clip. MSU got crushed, and their offense made things ... not remotely close.
Meanwhile, the Tide offense looked fine against a good defense, not nearly the elite unit that has powered otherworldly ass kickings this season.
Tua Tagovailoa was mortal, with 14 of 21 and 164 yards through the air. He again didn’t play the fourth quarter, but that’s because he took a defender’s shoulder to his injured leg in the second half and didn’t return.
Nick Saban said “I think he’s fine” after the game.
But even while he was in the game, the Bulldogs did a number on Bama. They had five sacks against the Tide, which was almost as much as Alabama had given up during the entire season coming in (six). Their two gains over 20 yards on the day came in the first two drives as well before the Bulldogs defense asserted themselves.
After those two drives, this was the Bama drive chart ...
But the fact that we can kinda turn up our noses at this result is notable for this Tide team.
Defensively this Bama team might still be improving. Arkansas’ 31 points a month ago are now as many as the Tide’s last four opponents combined, and the Tide have now pitched a shutout in nine out of their last 10 quarters.
But offensively, Bama’s finally had to work for it, for most of two games in a row.
A shutout by not as much as it should be is about the only thing you can pick apart for this Alabama team because they’re that good.
A win is a win though, and a 24-point shut out is something that would have been a dominant performance for Alabama just a few years ago. It’s funny what one season of an elite QB has done to our perspective as fans.
And that point by our Alabama blog is the biggest takeaway. The Tide have just obliterated the normal standard for even a Bama team. It’s why we consider a 24-0 win as doing just enough.
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