Alabama got everything it wanted and more in a 31-24 win against Mississippi State on Saturday.
The No. 2 Tide were manhandled in a way they haven't been since Utah beat them 31-17 in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. It was that bad, and the Bulldogs could easily have won that game, if Alabama's offense hadn't come alive in the fourth quarter.
MORE: Auburn's mauling of Georgia makes Iron Bowl even bigger
Nick Fitzgerald frustrated the Tide greatly, completing 12 of 20 passes for 142 yards and rushing 21 times for 66 yards. Alabama may have come away with a win, but Mississippi State dominated the line of scrimmage for a good portion of the game, and won the time of possession battle by holding the ball for 38:56 minutes of game time.
Regardless, here is what we learned from Alabama's close call against the Bulldogs.
1. Alabama’s O-line needs work
The Tide were manhandled all night against a Mississippi State defense that, apart from a few big plays, kept Alabama pretty well contained until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs also got five sacks against Jalen Hurts. To be fair, starter Ross Pierschbacher was out with a sprained ankle, but one player does not make a unit. That doesn’t bode well for the Tide in their next few games, particularly against an Auburn defensive front seven that just sacked Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm four times.
2. The loss of linebackers hurts
The popular saying around Tuscaloosa during the Nick Saban era is that Alabama doesn’t rebuild, it reloads. We finally saw the limit of that on Saturday, when a Tide defense missing four linebackers couldn’t put pressure on Nick Fitzgerald and couldn’t cover Bulldogs receivers. Aeris Williams was three yards short of breaking the 100-yard mark and the Tide gave up three rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time of the Saban era. Alabama gets a virtual bye week against Mercer next week to figure it out before the Tide faces Auburn.
MORE: How Georgia's loss affects CFP race
3. Tide No. 1, but only because Georgia lost
Alabama's hopes for an undefeated season still lives, and they'll continue that battle next week atop the polls, thanks to Auburn's demolition of Georgia on Saturday. It looks as if Notre Dame's big deficit against Miami will hold as well, meaning we'll have a brand new top four in the College Football Playoff rankings. It's getting tight as the season winds down.
4. Chaos averted
No. 1 Georgia lost. It looks like No. 3 Notre Dame’s 34-0 deficit will hold against Miami. Had Alabama lost on Saturday, it would have been the first time the top three teams in the country lost since New Year’s Day, 1966. Losses from No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Arkansas and No. 3 Nebraska, ironically, vaulted Alabama to the top of the final AP Poll. This string of losses doesn’t have as big an impact on the outcome of the season, but it was almost chaos 50 years in the making
5. Alabama needs to improve for Auburn, fast
Is Alabama the best team in the SEC? Not on Saturday it wasn’t. That distinction belongs to Auburn, which destroyed the top-ranked Bulldogs 40-17 in a game that proved the Tigers are in playoff contention. You know what that means: The Iron Bowl in two weeks’ time is the de facto SEC West championship game. History aside (Alabama has never beaten a top-10 Auburn team in the Saban era), the Tigers look like the best bet to make the SEC championship game. Alabama will need to figure out its offensive line and defense if it wants to represent the West for the fourth straight year.
