TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — He expressed annoyance at all the praise last week, when Alabama pummeled Georgia and coach Nick Saban still looked like he wanted to make his team run sprints that night on the Strip instead of celebrating.

The roles flipped during Saturday’s postgame session with the media. Yes, Saban acknowledged, fumbles are a problem and penalties spoiled several promising drives in second-ranked Alabama’s 17-14 SEC win over Kentucky at Bryant-Denny Stadium. There are probably several football players in Athens, Ga., wondering what happened to the Alabama team they saw the previous week.

But halfway through the season, Alabama — supposedly a year away from contending for titles — is still undefeated.

“Say what you want about the team,” Saban said. “There weren’t many people in this room that thought we would be 6-0 right now. I’m not sure I would have bet on it, either, if you want to know the truth about it.”

Very few would wager that Kentucky would be attempting an onside kick late in the game, trailing by three points. But the kick sailed out of bounds, and Alabama (6-0, 3-0) could finally start enjoying the long-awaited off week.

But first, running back Glen Coffee wanted to walk home with his mother. He turned down a ride on the bus, and why not? He never stopped moving during the game.

Coffee rushed for a career-high 218 yards on 25 carries, the sixth-highest total in school history and the best since Shaun Alexander ran for 291 against LSU in 1996. His burst for 78 yards and a touchdown gave Alabama a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

But Coffee fumbled inside the 5-yard line later in the game and lost another ball on a long run with Alabama leading 14-7 in the fourth quarter.

“Not again,” Coffee said he thought to himself.

Kentucky’s David Jones attempted to pounce on the fumble, but the ball squirted out from under his shoulder pads and went out of bounds. Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin, who missed two field-goal tries earlier in the day, made a 24-yard attempt with 2:12 remaining to give the Tide a 17-7 lead.

A busted coverage by Rashad Johnson allowed Kentucky’s DeMoreo Ford to haul in a 48-yard touchdown pass from Mike Hartline with 40 seconds remaining, but Kentucky (4-1, 0-1) never got the ball back and Alabama remained undefeated.

A major reason Alabama will enjoy the off week is due to an unforced error by the Wildcats. On third-and-10 from their own 20, Hartline dropped back to throw a screen pass but lost his grip as he cocked to throw the ball and fumbled. Alabama’s Rolando McClain recovered and trotted 5 yards for a touchdown to put Alabama ahead 14-0.

“You can take everything else and throw a blanket over it, but that play was the difference in the game,” Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. “There were a lot of plays that a little something here and there and maybe the result is different, but Alabama made the plays for the most part.”

That point was acknowledged by Alabama’s coach. But this is still Saban, and he did not express too much pleasure at the Crimson Tide’s inability to contain Kentucky’s pass rush, the 10 penalties and the three fumbles. John Parker Wilson completed just 7 of 17 passes for 106 yards, threw an interception and took three sacks.

The Wildcats played simple man-to-man coverage throughout the game.

“Kentucky’s defense is the best we’ve seen this year,” Wilson said. “Their athletes, man for man, were really good.”

But Alabama — despite the turnovers, despite the struggling passing game, despite the defensive lapses — is 6-0. It’s enough to almost make Saban smile.

“I know it’s ugly,” Saban said, “but we won.”