Alabama has lost back-to-back games once in the last 10 years. That doesn’t bode well for Mississippi State, who will be hosting the Crimson Tide following their loss to LSU this Saturday.

Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead was very complimentary of Alabama, especially its defense, which didn’t have a very good day against LSU last week. Moorhead said the Crimson Tide defense is “talented at all three levels” and that the defensive ends “complement each other well.” He also added that “the two linebackers improve every game” and that they are great in coverage.

No one wants to face Alabama’s defense, but the numbers suggest the Crimson Tide aren’t as invincible defensively as they’ve been the last few years. Alabama is ranked sixth in yards allowed in the SEC. The Crimson Tide are also outside the conference’s Top 5 in run and pass defense.

Alabama is 81-18-3 all time against Mississippi State. The last time the Bulldogs won was in 2007, which was Nick Saban’s first year at Alabama.

Here’s what else Moorhead said on Wednesday:

  • On Justin Fields: We watched the film and got in touch with the HS coach. Justin’s parents are awesome people. he’s a QB that can beat you with his arm and legs and brain, that’s something we look for… he’s a great kid, happy for his success.
    did he camp at PSU? he was at a prospect camp going into his junior year.
  • On Alabama’s defense: Talented at all three levels, the DEs complement each other well, the two LBs improve every game, the corners and safeties are great in coverage, they pattern match anyone as good as anyone I’ve seen in 20 years. they are effective and stingy on defense.
  • On bringing something new out of the bye week: When you look at them, yards and points are hard to come by so you are always looking to move the chains… the trick of it is you have to be creative but you can’t go outside of the base scheme to confuse your own kids… on top of being skilled, outside of being well-coached, they don’t beat themselves.
  • On Erroll Thompson: I think his football IQ and even kneeled demeanor is the biggest thing, he is like a coach on the field. During the game, you see him with a high level of passion.
  • On development of Najee Harris: I think you look at the last game, the tail end of it, he was running with physicality and confidence. he also has the speed and athleticism to break long runs. he’s been impressive.
  • On Alabama missing 25 tackles against LSU, how would you turn that around if it happened to your team? Speaking for our own team, we have a tackling circuit where there are 4 stages and our guys work on technique… it is difficult throughout the course of the season (to work on that) given the injuries we have had.