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Rapid Reaction: History-making DeVonta Smith, Alabama overwhelm Mississippi State
By Joe Cox
Published:
On a Saturday when several ranked teams lost and Clemson nearly fumbled away its shot at a CFP berth, Alabama, led by standout wide receiver DeVonta Smith, had no such trouble.
The No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide rode its talented defense and a huge game from Smith to an easy win over Mississippi State 41-0.
Smith’s 3rd career 200-yard receiving game (and only the 10th such game in Alabama history) culminated with him tying Amari Cooper for the Tide’s career receiving touchdown record with 31 scoring grabs. Smith also posted just the second 4-TD receiving game in Alabama history, trailing only his own 5-TD game a year ago against Ole Miss.
Alabama was efficient in victory. The Tide took the game’s opening kickoff and moved to the edge of the Mississippi State red zone before stalling out. Will Reichard converted a 40-yard field goal to give Alabama a lead it would never surrender.
Mississippi State punted on its first 9 possessions. Its 10th possession ended with an interception. Later, Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II ended the night with pick-6 to account for the final margin.
Ahead 3-0, Alabama opened its lead on a 35-yard connection from Mac Jones to Smith, for the first of his 4 touchdown grabs on the game. After another Mississippi State 3-and-out, the Tide struck again, this time with Jones hitting Smith from 53 yards out. That play, with 2:56 to go in the 1st quarter, extended Alabama’s lead to 17-0 before State had converted a single first down.
From that point, much of the rest of the game was an anticlimax. KJ Costello started for State, but he was knocked out a tough hit and was relieved by Will Rogers. Alabama stretched its lead to 20-0 on another Reichard field goal before State converted a first down on a Jo’quavious Marks run with 9:40 to go in the first half. Soon thereafter, Jones found Smith again from 11 yards out to stretch the Tide advantage to 27-0 with 2:26 to play in the first half.
With Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence out of this week’s game due to COVID-19, Alabama’s Jones did nothing to hurt his own Heisman Trophy chances, passing for 291 yards and 4 touchdowns without turning the ball over. Jones now has 16 TD passes against just 2 interception this season.
Many wondered how the Tide offense would react to the loss of All-American Jaylen Waddle. Smith’s historically outstanding game suggested that the Tide will be fine — and with many more games along these lines, he may well surpass Jones as the Tide’s top Heisman candidate. Running back Najee Harris also eclipsed 100 yards rushing by late in the 3rd quarter.
State’s best scoring opportunity came late in the 3rd quarter, when the Bulldogs drove to the Alabama 9-yard line before a Rogers pass was intercepted in the end zone by linebacker Dylan Moses.
While MSU’s offense operated a bit more smoothly with Rogers, through 3 quarters, the Bulldogs had one play of longer than 12 yards and had only 6 first downs.
Alabama completed a 9-play, 99-yard drive early in the 4th quarter, finishing the drive on yet another Jones to Smith touchdown pass, this one coming from 10 yards out.
The 6-0 Tide have a week off ahead of a trip to LSU to play the 2-3 Tigers, who were blown out by Auburn earlier Saturday.
Frankly, Alabama looks unlikely to face any stout opposition until the SEC Championship Game. Meanwhile, 1-4 Mississippi State will host winless Vanderbilt next week in an except opportunity for the Bulldogs to claim their second victory of the 2020 season.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
