TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For the first time this season, No. 13 Alabama has a reason to beat its chest. No, the Crimson Tide’s 24-10 victory over No. 13 Ole Miss wasn’t the prettiest. Still, top-15 wins are nothing to turn your nose at — especially considering the Tide’s current state of affairs.

Alabama (3-1, 1-0 in the SEC) isn’t quite playing like the national contender that many pegged it to be at the beginning of the season. However, it kept those hopes alive with a gritty performance inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

More importantly, somewhere during the defensive slugfest, Alabama might have rediscovered its swagger.

“I think we did,” starting quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “We do have our swagger back, but we do got to acknowledge that we do have a lot of work to do. We’ve got a lot of work to do to reach all of our short-term goals and long-term goals. We’re a work in progress, but I will say this, that we’re hungry to improve, and we’re excited for what the future holds.”

Alabama outscored Ole Miss 18-3 in the second half, recording 241 of its 356 total yards after the break. Perhaps more encouraging, the Crimson Tide looked like itself doing so, outgaining the Rebels 109-29 on the ground while controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Following the game, Nick Saban said the strong second half showed him a lot about his team, noting it was equally important that his players learned about themselves during the win.

“When they're physical, they compete in the game, they're relentless in their effort and how they try to dominate their box and they play with more discipline and they don't have, sort of the negative plays that we keep shooting ourselves in the foot with too often,” Saban said while referencing how his team can be successful. “So we've got to eliminate those and I think that every one of those are an opportunities to learn. You don't want to waste a failing, you've head me say many times before and how you respond to those things is very important."

Since blowing out an overmatched Middle Tennessee State team in its season opener, the Crimson Tide has faced some form of adversity in each of the past three weeks, suffering a 10-point loss to Texas in week two before grinding out back-to-back 14-point wins over South Florida and Ole Miss. Those aren’t the blowout scorelines we’ve come to expect from Alabama, but that might not be a bad thing for a team still trying to find its best self.

“Football is fun,” Milroe said. “No matter what opponent it is, we’ve got to enjoy it, enjoy it as much as possible. It’s going to be a rollercoaster of emotions. There’s gonna be things we can improve on. There’s gonna be things we do well at. At the end of the day, we’ve got to enjoy the process. We’ve got to.”

When asked whether or not he feels Alabama is a national contender, Milroe went back to his previous statement, calling the Tide a “work in progress.”

“We’re gonna continue to grow and allow us to acknowledge that we need more room to improve in. I trust in the guys in the locker room. There’s no one I do not trust. I trust the coaches are going to put in a great game plan together — offense, defense and special teams. We have a great team, and I love each and every one of those guys.”

Alabama’s growth track still features a long list of improvements. The Crimson Tide still committed six penalties for 60 yards against Ole Miss and saw a fifth touchdown wiped off the board over the past three weeks. Alabama also needs to do a better job of protecting Milroe after allowing him to get sacked four times in the first half. The redshirt quarterback also needs to improve on avoiding costly errors after throwing his third interception in his last two appearances.

Alabama’s next opportunity to correct those mistakes will come next weekend as the Tide travels down Highway 82 to take on Mississippi State. That time will come soon enough. For now, it’s time to briefly enjoy one of the high points in what has been a trying start to the season.

“Like I said, we beat a great team in Ole Miss,” Milroe said. “We’re gonna enjoy that and then we’re gonna move on to our next opponent. But no matter what the score is, a win is a win.”