TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Even though the University of Alabama football team was off last Saturday and a number of players left town, just about every one of them quickly heard about the comment through social media.

Even those who didn’t have been repeatedly told it by now:

“We understand that we haven’t played a team that’s going to be as good as ’Bama,” Ole Miss safety Cody Prewitt said. “But we don’t really think ’Bama is as good as they have been, and we’re better than we have been. We’re looking forward to getting to the game plan and really nailing down all the tweaks and stuff that we’re going to have to put into ’Bama.”

Prewitt made the comment to Fox Sports after Saturday’s 24-3 unimpressive win against Memphis that caused the Rebels to drop out of the top 10 in the latest Associated Press Poll.

Although it makes Alabama fans openly wonder if the Rebels learned anything from last year’s game, the No. 3 Crimson Tide didn’t respond in kind on Monday.

“We don’t do a lot of talking because Coach (Nick) Saban doesn’t condone that,” junior safety Landon Collins said. “We keep our mouth shut as much as possible. There’s maybe two words and then we’re back to getting our mind right and paying attention to the next play.

“I had a lot of fans tweet at me and mention me on Twitter. I read it and stuff like that, but that’s how he felt. We’re definitely going to give them our best game and see who comes out with the W.”

Senior linebacker Trey DePriest said he just “laughs” at such comments, whether they’re bulletin-board material or happen on the field.

“Personally, I don’t do the trash-talking stuff, I never have,” he said. “Even in high school I never talked trash. Of course, it’s going to happen. They are right up the road in Mississippi. They are going to talk. Me, personally, though, I don’t do it.”

Last year Ole Miss visited Tuscaloosa two weeks after Alabama won 49-42 shootout at Texas A&M, when during the days leading up to the game quarterback Bo Wallace was quoted by AL.com as saying: “We have better players on the outside than A&M does,” and “I think we can put points on them.”

Wallace later said that his quotes were taken out of context, and he was trying to compliment his receivers and offense, but they still made their way into the Crimson Tide locker room and weight room.

“It played a big role,” former defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said at the time about what Alabama took as disrespect.

“They had been talking a lot of smack through the week, so we kind of took that into our preparation and went hard during practice,” safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix added. “It showed.”

C.J. Mosley was also motivated by what he thought was a late hit by an Ole Miss lineman. The linebacker was credited with seven tackles, knocked down a fourth-down pass in the red zone, and combined with defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan for a safety.

The final score: Alabama 25, Ole Miss 0.

“They totally took it to us,” Rebels coach Hugh Freeze said after the 2013 game. “We did not have answers to the stuff they were doing defensively.”