Alabama seemed rattled to start the game amid the clanging cowbells of Starkville. False starts, sacks allowed and a muffed punt told the story early.

But then Alabama recovered against Mississippi State as the Crimson Tide scored twice in the first quarter. In the end, Alabama coasted to a 40-17 victory on Saturday night for a 16th straight win over MSU and improve to 4-1.

The Crimson Tide came into Saturday ranked last in the SEC with nearly 364 yards per game. Quarterback Jalen Milroe came off of a big game against Ole Miss when he completed 17-of-21 passes for 225 yards with a touchdown and interception last week in a 24-10 victory.

At halftime, Nick Saban told the Crimson Tide Radio Network: “We didn’t stop them the last 2 times, we had them 3rd down several times. Every time we put dime in the game, they run the ball. We’ll have to go to nickel.”

Alabama builds 3 touchdown halftime lead

The Crimson Tide got a Jase McClellan touchodwn to build a 24-10 with a minute remaining before halftime. At that point, Milroe only had 4 pass attempts, but Alabama didn’t need them since it averaged 7.5 yards per carry net of sacks. After a slow start with 2 punts to open the game, Alabama scored on its next 4 possessions: touchdown, field goal, touchdown and touchdown. Both the defensive turnovers in the first half also resulted in 14 points.

Milroe overall in the first half was 5-for-5 passing for 84 yards, and he also had another 76 rushing yards and 2 TDs. He didn’t throw his first incompletion until there were 27 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. He finished 10-for-12 passing for 164 yards

Will Rogers throws first career TD against Alabama

Will Rogers snapped a long and notable drought for Mississippi State quarterbacks midway through the 3rd quarter. Rogers found Jeffrey Pittman for a 1-yard touchdown pass on a swing pass that came on 3rd down and capped an 11-play drive that covered 75 yards in 5:49.

It was the first TD pass by a State QB against Alabama since 2014. The previous touchdown came from Dak Prescott when he connected with Jameon Lewis in 2014.

Alabama defenses flexes again

Caleb Downs turned the lights out on a Mississippi State come back as he picked off Rogers for the MSU QB’s 3rd interception of the game. It was the first interception for the former 5-star recruit. The Crimson Tide also made 8 tackles for a loss and had 4 sacks.

It held MSU to a 5-for-16 mark on 3rd down conversions.