STARKVILLE — Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen saw his defense play well for 52 of 55 plays Saturday afternoon.
MSU’s defense bottled up Alabama’s offense and gave it fits nearly all day, but the Crimson Tide busted three long plays and one on special teams for four touchdowns that proved to the difference in a 31-6 victory at Davis Wade Stadium.
“You give up those plays, it’s not going to happen,” Mullen said. “You’re not going to win doing that. That’s just not playing great defense.”
No. 3 Alabama had three offensive touchdowns of 60 or more yards and a 69-yard punt return for a score to beat No. 20 MSU.
Bulldog junior safety Kivon Coman said the Bulldogs (7-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) had been really good in avoiding giving up big plays, but the Crimson Tide took advantage of a lack of focus by the Bulldog defense.
“Big plays are going to hurt you,” Coman said. “If you eliminate big plays and make turnovers, the game would have been totally different.”
MSU forced one turnover, a Brandon Bryant interception in the first half, but the offense couldn’t turn it into any points.
The Crimson Tide managed 34 yards and no points in the first quarter, but Alabama used Cryus Jones’ 69-yard punt return for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
On Alabama’s next possession, quarterback Jake Coker hit Calvin Ridley for a 60-yard touchdown on third-and-5. Freshman safety Mark McLaurin lunged at Ridley, but the wide receiver made a move and McLaurin couldn’t pull him down.
“It was just everybody not running to the ball,” Coman said. “People had bad eyes and bad technique.”
After holding Alabama running back Derrick Henry (22 carries, 204 yards) to 13 yards on five carries in the first quarter, the Bulldogs let him break a 74-yard touchdown run on third-and-9 that made it 21-3 in the second quarter.
The junior busted a 65-yard touchdown with 7:53 remaining to end MSU’s hopes.
“We just made mistakes,” junior linebacker Beniquez Brown said. “We talked about all week how we just need to make tackles. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that and that caused them to score three touchdowns.”
Brown led the Bulldogs with 11 tackles. Coman had nine tackles. The Bulldogs had zero sacks and four tackles for loss. Senior cornerback Taveze Calhoun, junior defensive lineman Will Coleman, and junior defensive lineman Nick James had one apiece. Junior linebacker Richie Brown had three quarterback hurries, while junior cornerback Tolando Cleveland blocked Adam Griffith’s 32-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
Alabama gained 199 of its 379 yards on the three touchdowns.
“I think we played pretty solid defense all night except for the big plays,” Mullen said. “You can’t play great defense 80 percent of the time. It’s got to be 100 percent of the time.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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