How would Alabama respond?

Coming off a humbling last-second loss at Texas A&M, that was the question on the minds of Alabama fans, and the greater college football world.

But in a game that was never really in doubt, Alabama continued its trend of not losing back-to-back games during the regular season since 2008, and rolled 49-9 on Saturday night. Similarly, Alabama continued a streak of winning 46 of its last 47 games when scoring a touchdown on the opening drive. The only time it hasn’t was last week at Texas A&M.

Alabama topped 40 points for the 36th time, which is the most in FBS since 2018. It was another reminder that coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide don’t often stay in this position very long. The last time Alabama lost 2 consecutive games was 2013, when it lost the Iron Bowl and then to Oklahoma during bowl season. Saban hasn’t lost 2 consecutive regular-season games since his first season in 2007.

By the time Brian Robinson scored from 3 yards made it Alabama 42-9 with 12:37 remaining, the rout was on, and the game all but decided. Bryce Young was 19-for-27 with 319 yards and 3 TDs. Perhaps most impressive was that Alabama improved to 10-for-14 on third downs by that point in the game, while Mississippi State was just 5-for-14.

Young finished 20-for-28 passing for 348 yards and 4 TDs. Alabama outgained State 324-99 in yards in the second half, with a minute to go.

How about the defense? Well, Will Anderson led a smothering effort with 4 sacks by himself — to go with 9 tackles for a loss by midway through the fourth quarter — as the Bulldogs were held under 4 yards per play.

It was much of what Alabama faithful remember in this series as the Crimson Tide took a 13-game series winning streak against Mississippi State into Saturday night in Starkville, Mississippi. That included last year’s 41-0 shutout of the Bulldogs that marked one of the worst stretches of Mike Leach’s first season in Starkville.

Alabama got off to a good start defensively with 2 sacks of Will Rogers within 3 plays, including one where Christian Harris smothered Rogers, and landed on his right shoulder.

Defensive highlights in the first quarter included 2 interceptions, including a Jordan Battle pick that was returned 40 yards for a TD. He made another interception late in the game.

That was all the support the offense needed after John Metchie scored on a 46-yard touchdown pass.

Then, in a seemingly weekly occurrence, Jameson Williams took the top off the MSU defense with the first pass of the second half and sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown to give the Crimson Tide a 22-point lead.

Rogers’ struggles ended what was a very strong start to the season. Coming off a bye week, Rogers’ last outing was a big performance where he threw for 408 yards and 3 touchdowns to help beat Texas A&M. Rogers has 2 games this season with at least 400 yards passing and multiple TDs, and he’s the only SEC QB to do so. Alabama controlled a passing attack that came into Saturday leading the conference at 372.4 yards per game.

While State is a known pass-heavy team, the Bulldogs were still in negative rushing yardage territory by early in the fourth quarter.