The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs will face off at Davis Wade Stadium at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama football team returned to full practice for an hour and 30 minutes of work in shells on Monday afternoon outdoors on the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields.
Alabama returned to practice following Saturday’s 30-16 win over then-No. 4 LSU. Next on the schedule for the Crimson Tide is a matchup in Starkville with No. 20 Mississippi State. The 2:30 kickoff will air live on CBS with Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson and Allie LaForce calling their fourth Alabama game in as many weeks and fifth overall.
The Bulldogs are a team that has won four straight and own a 7-2 overall record, including a 3-2 mark in conference play. Most recently, MSU earned a dominant 31-13 win on Thursday night at Missouri in a steady rain. State is led by seventh year head coach Dan Mullen, who owns a 53-33 record during his time in Starkville.
Series history favors the Crimson Tide, 77-18-3, and has won the last seven matchups between the two squads. Most recently, Alabama took down top-ranked Mississippi State, 25-20, inside Bryant-Denny Stadium a season ago. The win was UA’s seventh victory over the nation’s No. 1 team in program history, and the fourth win over the top team in college football under head coach Nick Saban.
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Head Coach Nick Saban
Opening Statement:
“Not much to comment on that I didn’t already say after the LSU game. It was a good effort by our team, and it was a great team win. I think in every aspect of the game we did a lot of good things – whether it was the offense, defense, or special teams. But as always, we look and evaluate those things and are focused on correcting the things that we could do better so we can continue to improve as a team.
“It’s good to see that Ryan Kelly and Adam Griffith got Players of the Week in the SEC. The players of the week for us: Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake, Ryan Kelly and Cam Robinson on offense; Reggie Ragland, Dillon Lee, and A’Shawn Robinson on defense; and Tony Brown, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Adam Griffith on special teams.
“Any time you have an emotional win you have to get your team ready to respond the right way and make sure they’re focused on what they need to do just as well the next week – or better – against a very good Mississippi State team that’s ranked and is a very, very good team. (Head coach) Dan Mullen has done a really good job there – they’re a very physical team, they’re well-coached, they play well in every aspect of the game. They’re very good on special teams; the scoring defense is ranked in the top of the conference giving up only 17 points per game. They’re very physical on defense – do a lot of things, create a lot of problems. Offensively, Dak Prescott has been playing there for a long time and has a lot of experience – he does a really good job of executing their offense. Certainly his pass efficiency and the ability to pass the ball effectively, to go with their running game, has been something that’s going to be a big challenge for us. He can run the ball and is one of the leading rushers on their team, and they also have several really good receivers. This is an outstanding team all the way around, and this is not the time for anyone to think that just because we had what some would call a “big win” that there is any reason to think that the next game is not the most important game that we need to play. Everybody has to focus and get prepared to do their job and play even better in this game.”
