Neither did the visiting fans. He was able to walk over to the sidelines before being carted off of the field.
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No. 2 Alabama beat No. 17 Mississippi State, 31-6, Saturday in Starkville. The win keeps Bama on track to win the West Division and advance to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on December 5. We need to crank that status up a little more. Alabama DL Jonathan Allen is the first Tide player to have three sacks in a game since Courtney Upshaw did it against Auburn in 2010…. “We got them stopped inside the five and a couple of times in the red zone, which I think is important”, coach Nick Saban said. “You’ve got to play to a high level all the time”. We dropped about four and five balls on a few of those plays. “We’ve had a tough week as a team, but we’ve just got to continue as a team to get better”.
Henry’s second scoring run – a 65-yarder – pushed the Tide’s lead to 31-6 midway through the fourth quarter.
Deep in the throes of garbage time, with Alabama’s domination long since asserted and Mississippi State’s surrender complete, a sophomore defensive end named Da’Shawn Hand trotted onto the field.
After a scoreless first quarter, Alabama struck first on a 69-yard punt-return score from cornerback Cyrus Jones. Henry then got into the mix by breaking a 74-yard touchdown that seemed to suck all of the energy out of the stadium.
It was also his 15th straight game scoring a rushing touchdown, topping Tim Tebow’s impressive string at Florida in 2006-07.
Saban also called the Mississippi State offense “very, very challenging”.
Derrick Henry had 22 carries for 204 rushing yards on Saturday.
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. This week’s big challenge will be stopping the league’s most prolific dual-threat quarterback. De’Runnya Wilson leads the team in yards (626) and TDs (8), but Fred Ross has hauled in the most balls this season (51). Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in the SEC and will provide a challenge for the Alabama defense. “I don’t think we did a great job of protecting the quarterback”.
And it was at that time that Alabama running back Derrick Henry ran his way into the Heisman conversation.
Past year in Tuscaloosa, Mississippi State fell behind 19-3 by halftime. A win puts the Bulldogs back in the conversation nationally and in the SEC for big postseason implications.
Henry topped 125 against all six and notched 200 against three of them. Dak Prescott threw for 300 yards but the Bulldogs never found the end zone. But it’s given Mississippi State even more fits than most, and even Prescott hasn’t much changed the equation.
“That’s the kind of back that he is”, Saban said about the last touchdown.
“They are who we thought they were, and we let ’em off the hook”.
Alabama (9-1, 6-1 SEC) easily survived its last major test before the Iron Bowl in two weeks. Jake Coker can strive to be a quarterback, but simply trying to be a game manager sure looks like it will do the trick. Then this Saturday, Henry would go on to further solidify his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy.
“I just tried to get out there and make a spark for the team”, he said, “just try to get out there and make a play”. Mississippi State in turn is 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. They have the best defense in America to go along with it. It is going to be a huge challenge for us.
Quote to note: “Not everything is going to go flawless”.
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Oh I know, I know, it’s college football and anyone can beat anyone.
