Joe Burrow’s forgettable first half on Saturday was salvaged by a strong LSU defense that helped the Tigers pull out a comfortable 19-3 win over Mississippi State. But it was also a wakeup-call for the team preparing to play Alabama in two weeks.

“I let my team down and I have great teammates and they picked me up and we have a great defense and they picked us up, and you can’t play like that against a team like Alabama,” Burrow told reporters after the game.

Burrow finished 16-for-28 for 129 yards and an interception, but most of that was in the second half after he said the first half was the worst of his life.

Obviously new to the LSU-Alabama rivalry, Burrow will spend the next week resting and preparing for the No. 1 Crimson Tide in a game that should have no shortage of hype and buildup. Part of the storylines will be that Alabama’s won seven straight in the series, and Burrow should shoulder a considerable amount of the load to reverse that trend.

“It doesn’t get much bigger than this one,” he said. “We’re going to go into the bye week, obviously this is a good win for us, but obviously I need a breath, our team needs a breath. We’re going to start preparing early, but it’s going to be nice to take a break, too.”

“I’m going to learn. I don’t know a lot about it, but I know Alabama is one of the best teams in the country, if not the best team,” Burrow told reporters Saturday night. “We’re pretty good ourselves. We’re going to watch the film, see how this game looked. Obviously, things didn’t look great, but we’re going to get some things corrected and look forward.”