One bust, and it would’ve been the same old story.

For the 11th time in 15 SEC games since the start of 2021, Alabama found itself in a 1-score game in the 4th quarter. In the 6th consecutive true road game, it was locked in that spot. For the 4th time this year, the game was about to be decided on an all-or-nothing play in the final minute. For the 2nd time in as many weeks, it was all down to Alabama defending its goal line.

Fail to go step for step with 1 of those receivers and yeah, Ole Miss would’ve been same old story as LSU. That is, a 3rd consecutive road loss to a top-15 team and another week of hearing about why Alabama isn’t Alabama anymore.

Well, Alabama might not be Alabama this year, but for at least a half, it felt like it. A dominant ground game, receivers making plays in the open field, an imposing defensive front … it was all there.

Oh, and this time, so was the all-important defensive stand to close the game.

Brian Branch’s textbook coverage broke up Ole Miss’ attempt at a go-ahead touchdown and this time, it was a new story for the Tide.

OK, maybe it wasn’t so much a new story as it was a new chapter for the Tide. After all, Alabama’s win at Ole Miss did help LSU clinch the SEC West. A New Year’s 6 Bowl is now the new top goal for the Tide.

But that was the first win all year against a team ranked in the top-15 of the AP Poll, much less on the road. That hadn’t happened since the Florida game last year. It’s funny because that’s when this whole “playing down to the competition” trend began with this version of Alabama.

Saturday was indeed more of that. We got reminders of why this was a 2-loss team, and had the Tide not prevailed, it wouldn’t have been from a lack of motivation. It would’ve been because this isn’t an elite football team. It makes too many careless mistakes (that nasty Dallas Turner facemask on Jaxson Dart was on 3rd and 18) and they don’t have any group that truly imposes its will.

Even that feared defensive line, which lost Will Anderson for part of the 4th quarter with an apparent shoulder injury, couldn’t prevent Alabama native Quinshon Judkins from busting loose for a 35-yard run to put Ole Miss into the red zone on that potential go-ahead drive.

But Saturday was about Alabama actually showing some fight and finishing the job against quality competition. Not against a Quinn Ewers-less Texas team. Not against a disappointing 5-loss Arkansas team. Surely not against a 3-win A&M team.

It was about doing that against an Ole Miss team who still had a Playoff pulse. Like, holding off Lane Kiffin, who was clearly desperate to become the 3rd Saban assistant to take down his former boss. That was his best chance to do it, and in many ways, it had to feel like Alabama was on the ropes down 10-0.

I mean, Ole Miss out-gained Alabama 154-22 in the first quarter. Call it an LSU hangover, or just call it reality.

An inconsistent Alabama team got off to a bad start. Again.

Kiffin even said at halftime that “their inability to run the ball has certainly helped us.” How many times can you recall a coach saying that about Alabama?

But to the Tide’s credit, that ground game appeared in the second half, thanks mostly to Jase McClellan, who paced the Tide with 19 rushes for 84 yards while a healthy Jahmyr Gibbs didn’t play in the second half.

Bizarre? Sure. But was it effective? Certainly.

You wonder how much of that shift was sparked by Bryce Young laying into his teammates after that slow start. The CBS cameras captured a visibly upset Young looking like anything but a guy who was thinking about the tens of millions of dollars he’ll make at the next level. On the very next drive, Young delivered this rifle to Jermaine Burton for Alabama’s first points of the day.

A little anger taken out on that throw? Maybe.

A little help on the receiving end? Definitely.

What a concept.

The Alabama receivers who entered the day with an SEC-worst 21 drops were able to help out their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Combine that with a ground game that finally got its proper utilization — the Tide were No. 3 in FBS in yards/carry but No. 88 in carries/game — and it wasn’t a surprise to see Alabama survive.

Oh! I almost forgot about the most well-documented “this is why Alabama isn’t Alabama” area. The penalties.

Alabama only had 5 penalties for 45 yards, which was the program’s lowest true road game total on both accounts since Dec. 12, 2020 at Arkansas. In 7 of those 8 previous road games, Alabama either hit 10 penalties or 82 penalty yards.

Was it a perfectly clean game? Certainly not. There was the aforementioned Turner face mask and an uncalled obvious defensive pass interference had Jaxson Dart upset after his intended receiver was driven to the ground.

But all things considered, that had to be what Saban had been hoping for.

You could tell there was a little extra emotion from the Alabama coach when Branch’s deflection secured the victory. Saban raised his arms, which prompted Brad Nessler to say on the CBS broadcast, “there’s a smile on Nick Saban’s face. Maybe for the first time in a couple of weeks.”

Fair.

In his defense, not many coaches would be particularly happy after becoming the first preseason AP No. 1 to suffer multiple regular season losses since 2012 USC. That team was, of course, coached by Kiffin, who had a different reaction to failed his team’s failed 4th-down conversion (a play sheet was thrown back into the Ole Miss sideline).

But this time, Saban didn’t have to fight off another rushed field with tens of thousands of visiting fans. Instead, he had a look of relief on his face as he tried to put some perspective on the Tide’s nail-biter victory.

“Our guys really competed in this game. They really played hard in the second half. I mean, we stubbed our toe a lot in the first half and just kept playing the next play,” Saban said. “That’s the kind of identity we want to reestablish in the program.”

Yep. Too bad it took until mid-November for his team to embody that.