Alabama got knocked out from the ranks of the undefeated when they fell to Tennessee last weekend. Alabama coach Nick Saban has a theory that the loss could be in part because of the team’s collective mindset heading into the showdown.

Saban wondered on Thursday whether the pressure to succeed in that intense environment became a detriment to Alabama rather than a motivator.

Saban has tossed and turned in bed this week trying to surmise why his players were on edge.

“High achievement motivation and low anxiety is the best way to have the best performance,” Saban said. “We just seem to have a lot of (anxiety), and it’s kept me up a lot at night this week trying to figure that out…They wanted to so bad, maybe it was too bad.”

Alabama had a couple of close calls before losing to Tennessee. Alabama edged out Texas 20-19 in its second game and got past Texas A&M 24-20 the week before the Tennessee loss.

Next up for Alabama is a home contest vs. visiting No. 24 Mississippi State on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.

Alabama leads the all-time series 84-18-3 against Mississippi State. Alabama has a 14-game winning streak in the series, having not lost since 2007.