9/28/2023 football Edit

Nick Saban says Mississippi State will be a tougher test than Ole Miss

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban walks inside Wade Davis Stadium before a game at Mississippi State in 2019. Photo | Mickey Welsh, Montgomery Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Tony Tsoukalas • TideIllustrated

Managing Editor

After recording a 24-10 victory over then-No. 15 ranked Ole Miss last week, Nick Saban believes Alabama will face an even better team from the Magnolia State this weekend.

Saban raised a few eyebrows Monday when he said that Mississippi State will be the toughest team the Crimson Tide has faced since its Week 2 game against Texas. Thursday, he doubled down on that statement during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

“This team, really to me, is better than all the teams that we’ve played so far except Texas,” Saban said, “in terms of the caliber of players, how they play, how tough they are, how physical they play.”

No. 12 Alabama (3-1, 1-0) is currently a 14.5-point favorite over Mississippi State (2-2, 0-2) heading into Saturday night’s 8 p.m. CT kickoff inside Davis Wade Stadium. However, with the Crimson Tide making its first road trip of the season, Saban said he and his players aren’t taking the Bulldogs lightly.

“This is not anything that requires any kind of a mental letdown,” Saban said. “This is a build on the second half of what we did last week and understand why we did it and be able to continue to do it and not get frustrated in this game because of what might happen. Because they’re gonna create some plays, but we can’t get frustrated. We’ve got to keep playing the next play. We’ve got to play through 60 minutes.

“That’s what it’s going to take in this game because they’re a physical team. They’re a good team.”

After struggling during the first half last week, Alabama outscored Ole Miss 18-3 after the break, cleaning up some of its deficiencies on offense while stifling a high-powered Rebels attack on the other side of the ball.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State is coming off of back-to-back defeats, including a 41-14 blowout at the hands of LSU two weeks ago and a narrow defeat at South Carolina over the weekend.

“The South Carolina game, [Mississippi State] turned the ball over a couple times down in the red zone, or [else] that’s a different game,” Saban said. “This is a good team.”