The Alabama Crimson Tide are racking up statement football victories these days with the same relative ease as their ability to continually compile five-star recruits.
Ole Miss is just the latest to feel the wrath.
A week after accumulating 677 yards while holding Vanderbilt to 78 in a 59-0 crushing of the Commodores in Nashville, the top-ranked Tide returned to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night and promptly massacred Ole Miss 66-3. The 63-point margin of victory was Alabama's largest under Nick Saban and the program's largest since a 1979 drubbing of Vanderbilt by the identical score.
"Watching them on film, I knew they were really good," Rebels quarterback Shea Patterson said in a news conference afterward. "They are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason, and they made a statement tonight. They came out ready to play, and we didn't in most of the phases of the game."
The Tide's 125-3 combined thrashing of the Commodores and Rebels represents the most dominating 2-0 start Alabama ever has achieved in Southeastern Conference play. Alabama had not scored 50-plus points in consecutive SEC games since 1945, and Saturday night marked the most points the Tide have racked up on the Rebels.
Ole Miss upset Alabama in 2014 and 2015 and gave the Tide their toughest challenge of last year's regular season.
"That was obviously a good win for us," Saban said in his news conference. "We really hadn't defeated that team for a long time and hadn't done it at home. Our players really came out and took care of business."
Alabama, which visits Texas A&M this Saturday night in a game that will be shown on ESPN, had 613 total yards and held Ole Miss to 253. Saban, not surprisingly, added that there is still plenty to improve on, citing dropped passes and seven penalties for 60 yards.
The Tide actually went three-and-out with their first possession, but a 29-yard scramble by quarterback Jalen Hurts on their second set up Bo Scarbrough's 6-yard touchdown run for the game's first points. On the ensuing possession by Ole Miss, Levi Wallace intercepted Patterson and raced 35 yards for the score that opened the floodgates.
Hurts was 12-of-19 passing for 197 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed 10 times for a team-high 101 yards. The sophomore now has seven 100-yard rushing games in his college career, including three this season.
"I think Jalen settled down in the game," Saban said. "He seemed a little outsourced in the beginning of the game, but he settled down and played really well. Jalen did a nice job running and passing in the game, and he did a good job utilizing all the skill guys that we have so the offense could have a lot of production."
Through five games, Alabama's defense leads the nation by allowing an average of just 8.6 points per contest.
Hand update
Alabama senior defensive lineman Da'Shawn Hand suffered a knee injury in the third quarter Saturday night and did not return. Saban said after the game that he thought it was an MCL sprain and that Hand was scheduled to undergo testing Sunday.
Saban is scheduled to meet with the media today, but Hand posted "God is good - be back sooner than later" Sunday on Twitter.
Tide tidbits
Junior safety Minkah Fitzpatrick had a career-high eight tackles and his first sack of the season. ... Freshman right tackle Jedrick Wills became the 13th different Alabama player to make his first career start this season. ... The Tide have defeated 69 consecutive unranked foes. ... Andy Pappanastos went 9-for-9 on extra-point attempts against his former school, while punter JK Scott made a 48-yard field goal.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.