Jalen Milroe took a brutal hit, and then eventually he got back up, emphatically and emboldened.

Alabama took a brutal hit, too, in a figurative sense, and the Crimson Tide got off the deck, too.

Neither Milroe nor No. 13 Alabama was anything close to perfect on Saturday afternoon against No. 15 Ole Miss in a painfully methodical and much-needed 24-10 victory. But the embattled sophomore quarterback and the battered and bruised program he plays for were plenty resilient enough to win the day, avoid a season-killing loss and move forward with its SEC championship goals intact.

Bryant-Denny Stadium — the scene of so many glorious Saturdays in the past 15 years, when Bama was in full sprint — had a different sort of feel to it on this particular Saturday. The Tide were clearly on the defensive after the ugly loss to Texas 2 weeks earlier on the same field and a similarly ugly victory last week at South Florida, all wrapped up in a chaotic quarterback carousel that was threatening to take down a season and maybe a dynasty.

And this so-far uneven season of Alabama football may yet go under, because even Milroe admitted that the 3-1 Tide are still “a work in progress” after Saturday’s victory. But it all could’ve come crashing down in the conference opener, before the annual push to Atlanta even got started, and it didn’t.

It didn’t because Milroe — who got his starting quarterback job back after watching Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson struggle in the slop at USF — got back up when he got knocked down a split second after tossing that pretty 33-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Hale midway through the 3rd quarter that finally gave Bama some breathing room. Milroe was attended to by trainers as a worried fan base wondered what could possibly happen next with its quarterbacks, before rising up in defiance and sprinting downfield to celebrate with his teammates.

In that moment, Milroe sent a message.

He was saying that while everything wasn’t and still isn’t OK with Alabama, that he was still standing, that he was still there, that he was still very much in the fight.

Same goes for the flawed Crimson Tide as a whole as they head on the road the next few weeks to face Mississippi State and Texas A&M. They will try to navigate their way through the SEC jungle while Milroe tries to find his footing at the helm of an offense that is struggling to score points no matter who the quarterback is.

Early Saturday evening, Alabama’s world looked a little better though. Despite its shortcomings, it beat Ole Miss like it almost always does, because the unheralded defense continued to thrive and because Milroe didn’t allow a 2nd-quarter interception to get him down. He ended up going a tidy 17-of-21 for 225 yards, the crucial touchdown to Hale and just that 1 interception. He kept the mistakes to a minimum, which allowed the Crimson Tide to collectively get off the mat during a dominant 2nd-half performance that all at once warned the college football world not to bury this Bama team just yet.

Lane Kiffin and his previously unbeaten Ole Miss team learned the hard way on Saturday — that Milroe can take a hit, and so can Alabama.

Player of the Week

You could argue that it should be revitalized linebacker Dallas Turner, who was awesome with 5 tackles (3 solo), 2 sacks and a forced fumble, or running back Jase McClellan, who finally eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the 1st time this season. And if you argued for Turner or McClellan, you’d be absolutely right. But we’re going to give it to cornerback Terrion Arnold, who led the Tide in tackles with 8 (6 solo), had 2 passes defended and recorded his 1st interception of the season that helped flip the game in Alabama’s favor for good.

The Tide had just taken a 9-7 lead early in the 3rd quarter after Will Reichard’s 3rd field goal of the afternoon, but the Rebels responded by driving to midfield. Just when it looked like Bama was going to give the lead right back, Arnold picked off Jaxson Dart near the Tide goal line and returned the pick 37 yards to set Alabama up in good field position at its own 41. With Bama’s momentum building thanks to Arnold, Milroe led the Tide’s 1st touchdown drive of the day, and suddenly Nick Saban’s stuck-in-the-mud team had ripped control of the game from Ole Miss’ grasp.

Freshman of the Week

That aforementioned 1st TD drive for Bama ended with a spectacular 33-yard grab in the back of the end zone by the freshman Hale, who entered with exactly 1 catch for 5 yards in the season opener against Middle Tennessee. But Hale announced his arrival to Tuscaloosa with what is up to this point Bama’s biggest touchdown catch of the season. The 6-foot-1, 189-pound native of Longview, Texas, added a 30-yard catch, and it wouldn’t surprise if the performance was the springboard to bigger things.

With none of Bama’s veteran receivers emerging so far as expected, the 4-star recruit who chose Alabama over Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M could be the hidden gem that helps ignite the Tide’s offense. Milroe sure wasn’t shy about going to Hale in the biggest of moments, and Hale showed a nervous stadium and fan base, not to mention a national TV audience, that he wasn’t afraid of the moment. Bama never looked back after Hale’s TD grab, adding a 2-point conversion before tacking on another TD early in the 4th quarter.

Biggest surprise

Bama’s defense showed up in a big way, and it completely shut down Ole Miss’ vaunted rushing attack, holding the Rebels to just 56 yards on the ground 1 week after Kiffin’s team rolled up 299 yards rushing against Georgia Tech. Kevin Steele’s defense would not let running back Quinshon Judkins put his imprint on the game, holding the star sophomore to 56 yards on 13 carries. Dart is a dual-threat QB who can hurt you with his legs when he wants to, but he didn’t hurt Bama at all, managing 6 measly yards on 12 carries.

After Judkins shredded the Tide last November in Oxford with 135 yards and 2 touchdowns, Bama was determined to take away what the Rebels do best. Mission accomplished. And it wasn’t like Ole Miss was playing from behind all afternoon and had to abandon the run. This was a close game throughout where a sturdy running game could’ve made the difference. But for a change, the Rebels had no running game, and that was truly shocking.

Biggest concern

OK, this is a bit of a reach, but Bama allowed Ole Miss to go 3-for-4 on 4th-down conversions, not exactly an ideal way to get a team off the field in a close game where 1 score can tilt things either way. Thankfully for the Crimson Tide, they allowed the Rebels to go just 3-for-14 on 3rd-down conversions, so some of what happened on 4th down was balanced out. But there’s a likelihood, because of how Bama is built this season, that the Tide are going to be in some closer games than in past years. So getting off the field on those dramatic 4th-down plays might just be the difference in winning or losing.

Thankfully for Bama, those 4th-down conversions didn’t make a difference Saturday. But you just know that Steele will be going over those 4th-down plays with his players in film sessions this week, making sure that all-important area is tightened up going forward.

Developing trend

This is a sore spot for Bama as we hit the one-third pole of the regular season, and it might have a lot to do with the uneven quarterback play, but none of the Crimson Tide’s pass catchers is emerging. You keep waiting each week for Jermaine Burton or Kobe Prentice or Ja’Corey Brooks or even transfer tight end CJ Dippre to become the top target or targets for Milroe (or whoever has played quarterback), and it just hasn’t happened yet.

Again, the quarterback play probably hasn’t helped the cause, but it’s like the chicken or the egg dilemma. It would help if 1 or more of those receivers would emerge — and we’re not asking for superstar emergence, just someone a quarterback can depend on. So far, it hasn’t happened, and that’s not helping the quarterback, either. On Saturday, the only player to catch more than 2 passes was a running back — Roydell Williams, who had 3 catches for all of 13 yards. It was OK against Ole Miss, as Milroe had to complete only 17 passes while Bama leaned on its running game and defense. But you wonder if this trend is sustainable long term.

Key stat

Alabama simply dominated the time of possession, which meant it also dominated the tempo of the game, which meant it had a chance to win on its own terms. The Tide had the ball for 34:23, almost 10 more minutes than the 25:37 that Ole Miss possessed it. By controlling the time of possession, Bama was able to keep its defense fresh, and that defense played like it was fresh, holding the Rebels to 301 total yards. This is a formula for victory that can work going forward for a Tide team that’s built to win with its running game and defense.

First impression about Week 5

With the Rebels in the rearview mirror, the Tide will try to conquer the other Mississippi school next Saturday in a prime-time game in Starkville. Mississippi State is reeling right now, following its home blowout loss to LSU with Saturday night’s 37-30 setback at South Carolina. The Bulldogs have surrendered a combined 78 points in their 1st 2 SEC games, which is seemingly just what the doctor ordered for an Alabama offense that is struggling to put up points but that showed against Ole Miss that it can control the time of possession.

Will Rogers threw for 487 yards in Saturday night’s shootout in Columbia, which is eye-popping until you look deeper. The Bulldogs had absolutely no balance offensively, rushing for just 32 yards, and that kind of 1-dimensional offense won’t work against an Alabama defense playing at the top of its game right now. Beware, though — it’ll be a prime-time, 9 p.m. ET start in Starkville, and it’s Alabama, so the Bulldogs will be ready to put their best foot forward on national TV and desperate to avoid going 0-3 in the SEC.