It wasn’t the prettiest win in Alabama football history, but it beat the week before.
The Crimson Tide defeated Ole Miss 23-10 Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium, bouncing back from the 35-21 loss at South Carolina on Oct. 9. Alabama made things miserable most of the night for Rebels quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, but an 85-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Greg McElroy to Trent Richardson midway through the third quarter served as the Tide’s only offensive play that went for 25 yards or longer.
“The goal of this game was for us to get back to playing with the kind of effort, toughness, discipline, execution and intensity that you need to play with to play winning football,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We probably hit on the toughness part. I was pleased with that.
“I thought we tackled better and played better at the line of scrimmage, but the execution was not what it needs to be, and that’s something we can to improve on.”
Saturday’s game was televised by ESPN2 with a 9:15 p.m. Eastern kickoff, and it didn’t end until Sunday at 12:33 a.m.