Even Alabama has growing pains.

But it still plays the most complete football of any team in the country.

Alabama’s special teams turned in a special performance, blocking a punt and forcing a fumble to set up 10 points, and the Crimson Tide’s defense did the rest. That proven recipe helped the erratic-but No. 1-ranked Tide put away No. 3 Florida State 24-7 on Saturday night.

It was far from a flawless performance. Alabama’s offense was particularly sloppy. It scored just two touchdowns. The Tide missed two field goals attempts. Jalen Hurts was limited to 96 yards through the air.

None of it mattered.

After Alabama took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, FSU drove 90 yards for the game’s first touchdown. ACC fans no doubt were thinking back to last year’s final drive, when Clemson marched 68 yards without much interruption to win the national championship.

FSU quarterback Deondre Francois was perfect on the Noles’ drive, completing all seven attempts for 86 yards, the final 3 coming on a fade to 6-5 receiver Auden Tate to put the Seminoles ahead 7-3. It looked like a matchup the Noles might be able to exploit all night. They couldn’t.

Hurts and Calvin Ridley hooked up on a perfect 53-yard post pattern for a touchdown and Alabama’s revamped defense made enough plays to take a 10-7 lead into halftime.

The key defensive stand came after an uncharacteristic 9-yard punt from All-American JK Scott gave the Seminoles the ball at Alabama’s 31.

Bama shoved FSU backward twice in three plays, pushing the Noles out of field goal range.

On its next possession, FSU again was deep in Bama territory, but this time Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked Ricky Aguayo’s 37-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the half.

The stat sheet mirrored the scoreboard. The first half was an evenly fought slugfest. Alabama outgained FSU by a scant 7 yards; FSU held the ball 44 seconds more. Both teams took shots down the field. Tate’s other catch in the first half went for 38 yards. Ridley nearly got to 100 yards in the first half, but Alabama leaned on its ground game. Hurts and Damien Harris each had runs of 20 yards or more.

Nick Saban, rarely if ever satisfied, bemoaned the mistakes on both sides of the ball and said the outcome would hang on Alabama’s ability to play a considerably cleaner second half.

Instead it was more of the same. Initially, anyway, until Alabama’s special teams saved the day.

Harris, playing on special teams, blocked a punt, giving the Tide 1st-and-goal at FSU’s 6. But just like Alabama thwarted FSU in the shadow of its end zone in the first half, FSU returned the favor.

It stopped Bo Scarbrough on a short run and twice pressured Hurts to force a field goal.

The game turned on the ensuing kickoff, when 5-star freshman Dylan Moses forced an FSU fumble, giving the Tide possession at the 11.

Harris took the handoff and broke through several tackles at the line for a touchdown. Ridley added the 2-point conversion on a nice grab to make it 21-7.

Jimbo Fisher, known for his second-half offensive adjustments, had no answer for Alabama’s defense in the final 30 minutes. Francois was picked off twice before being knocked out late in the fourth quarter.

Florida State’s running game was non-existent, bottled up by Bama’s new-look front seven. (See, it’s not just Florida that struggles against this defense.)

Saban had never lost to one of his former assistants and had never lost an opener as Alabama’s coach.

It wasn’t always easy Saturday night. But both streaks are still alive.

Most important, so is Alabama’s stranglehold on No. 1.