Tide Turnovers: Alabama defense uses takeaways to tame Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Chris Braswell said the goal for the Alabama defense was to force three turnovers in its conference road opener against Mississippi State. Mission accomplished.

The Crimson Tide (4-1, 2-0 SEC) intercepted three Will Rogers passes during the 40-17 win at Davis Wade Stadium and held the Bulldogs to 107 passing yards in the victory in Week 5.

“We strive for creating turnovers on defense,” Braswell said. “The goal was to get three, and we got three.”

Braswell got things rolling by picking off a pass that was tipped off the paw of defensive lineman Jah-Marien Latham and returning it for a touchdown. It was the first non-offensive touchdown of the season and first for Alabama since a Dallas Turner scoop and score last year at Tennessee. It marked the Crimson Tide’s 91st non-offensive touchdown of the Saban era.

“The tight end came to me, I tried to press it inside out and I saw the ball tipped,” Braswell recalled after the 23-point win. “I just put my hands out there and caught it. I honestly thought I was going to get tackled, so I just covered the ball. I was like, ‘Nah, man. He’s not taking me down. I want this touchdown.’ So I just kind of threw him off and ran into the end zone.”

In addition to Braswell, linebacker Jihaad Campbell and safety Caleb Downs came down with interceptions in the game. Both players also tallied double-digit tackles in the win, with Campbell finishing with a team-high 14 stops and Downs recording 13 tackles on Saturday.

Comparatively, while Alabama did fumble the ball twice – once on a Kool-Aid McKinstry punt return and again on an early snap from center Seth McLaughlin to quarterback Jalen Milroe – the Crimson Tide was able to recover both and finished 3-plus in turnover margin.

“I think scoring on defense is always something that players dream about, think about, always want to do, so it was good to see,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “Hopefully, we can keep getting turnovers and not turning the ball over. We had a couple balls on the ground tonight that we didn’t lose. So ball security is really important.

“But if you’re going to score on defense, you’ve got to get turnovers, and Bras did a great job on that one. We run the pressure into the boundary – he was playing defensive end, and he dropped to the field. I think it probably confused the quarterback a little bit, and he did a great job. A big play in the game.”

In its 16th consecutive win over Mississippi State, the Alabama defense was once again able to keep the Bulldogs’ passing game in check. Rogers threw for only 107 yards and was sacked four times (Trezmen Marshall led the way with 1.5 sacks), but he did manage to throw a touchdown pass in the third quarter, which was the first touchdown pass for State in a game against the Crimson Tide since Dak Prescott threw a couple back in 2014.

However, Alabama didn’t have as much success in stopping the run, especially on third down, as State rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown on 35 attempts (4.4 ypc). It would have been 174 yards if not for UA’s four sacks. Three of the five first downs were runs with Rogers moving the sticks once and running back Jo’Quavious Marks picking up the other two.

After the game, Saban touched on why Mississippi State had success on the ground when he was asked about the Crimson Tide defense’s ability to limit Rogers the last four seasons.

“The last couple years when they were always in four wideouts, we did all kinds of junk where you knew they were going to pass,” Saban said. “Well, we had some of that junk out for them tonight, and they ran the ball every time on 3rd and 8 and made a first down.

“So I just think the guy’s an outstanding player. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him. I thought our players did a good job of not allowing them to have explosive plays, especially throwing, because that was my concern going into the game. I was concerned about can we stop them running, which we didn’t do a very good job of.

“But they ran the ball in some situations that we didn’t think they would. And we were able to limit the explosive plays that he made in the game, and I think early pressure on him was a positive thing for us.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $1! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!