Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State was expected to be a battle. The combination of things taking place leading up to Alabama’s 10th game of the season pointed that way, and it didn’t fail.

At no point during the game was victory a sure thing, even when the Tide took a 31-24 lead with 25 seconds left in the game.

Of course, it’s not like that is too much of a surprise.

The game was in Starkville against a Mississippi State team that had proven to be a lot more effective at home. Alabama was dealing with several key injuries — including Shaun Dion Hamilton, the field general on defense — following a physically draining home win against rival LSU as well.

Still, the Tide managed to escape, and they did it while having to deal with a lot of adversity.

State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald was efficient despite his 54.2-percent completion rate — 3 of his 11 incompletions were prayer passes late in the game. It might be one of his better performances of the season from a pure accuracy standpoint.

Alabama’s defense stepped up to the plate when it mattered most, however.

After a would-be go-ahead field goal from K Andy Pappanastos bounced off the left upright with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter, the Tide’s defense came up with a key three-and-out to give the offense the ball back with 1:09 remaining.

From there, it would be the Jalen Hurts show, as he completed 3-of-4 passes for 72 yards and touchdown on Alabama’s final drive.

It was a magnificent final drive for the sophomore.

He showed nice recognition on an all-out blitz from State on 3rd-and-15 that allowed him to convert a 31-yard catch-and-run to WR Calvin Ridley — who finished the night with 5 receptions for 171 yards — and his 26-yard touchdown pass to true freshman DeVonta Smith was the final blow to the Bulldogs’ chances of pulling the upset.

Defensively, Alabama could’ve played better. They failed to get much pressure on Fitzgerald — only one sack — and they allowed State to convert 8-of-15 (53.3-percent) of its third-down attempts.

Saturday’s game also marked the first time in the Saban era that an Alabama defense gave up three rushing touchdowns.

The most surprising part of the game was Mississippi State’s ability to control the clock. The time of possession was heavily in the Bulldogs’ favor, as they held on to the ball for 38:59 of a possible 60 minutes.

It seemed like State was the better team, but Alabama — like most championship teams do — found a way to come away with a key win on the road. With so many ranked teams falling in November, never take for granted how difficult winning is. Alabama is just the ninth 10-0 SEC team this century.

Included in that key win is biggest takeaway of any game so far this season: Hurts silencing those critics who said that the Tide would fall if the outcome of a game was put on the sophomore’s shoulders.

With FCS opponent Mercer on the docket in Week 12, Alabama has a little time to recover before taking on a hot Auburn team that just came away with a convincing 40-17 victory over No. 1 Georgia.