STARKVILLE, Miss. — Jalen Milroe was efficient at quarterback for No. 12 Alabama, and the Crimson Tide’s defense scored touchdowns off two first-half interceptions in a 40-17 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday night.
Milroe completed his first eight passes and ended up 10-of-12 for 164 yards. He ran 11 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns — opening the scoring on a 53-yard scamper — to help Alabama (4-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) to its 16th straight series victory over the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-3).
Mississippi State’s Will Rogers was 15-of-26 for 107 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions.
“We set goals for ourselves prior to the season starting, and those goals are still there,” Milroe said. “That’s the biggest thing. We’re trying to accomplish those.
Chris Braswell returned one of Rogers’ interceptions 28 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. With Mississippi State trailing 24-10 in the final seconds of the first half, Rogers threw his second pick and gave Alabama a short field that Milroe took advantage of to score the second of his touchdown runs.
“You’re not going to beat a whole lot of good football teams when you give up a touchdown and then have an opportunity for a two-minute drill and throw an interception to give up a short field,” Bulldogs coach Zach Arnett said. “That was a poor job by the head coach. We should have taken a knee there.”
Mississippi State cut its deficit to 17-10 in the first half, then was outscored 23-7. The Bulldogs had 261 yards of total offense and gave up four sacks.
Rogers’ touchdown pass to running back Jeffery Pittman in the third quarter was the first for a Bulldogs quarterback against Alabama since Dak Prescott threw one to Jameon Lewis in 2014. It was the first touchdown pass against Alabama in Starkville since 2011.
Alabama finished with 335 yards of total offense in a balanced attack that included 171 yards on the ground. Jase McClellan had 15 carries for 63 yards and a score to complement Milroe.
The Tide were coming off a 24-10 home win against Ole Miss a week earlier, when they rallied from a 7-6 halftime deficit.
The victory over Ole Miss cemented Milroe as the starter — he filled the role the first two games of the season but did not play at all in the third at South Florida — and he had another good game at Mississippi State. LSU lost to Ole Miss earlier Saturday, and Saban’s bunch is still one of the teams to beat in the SEC West Division.
“There’s a lot of things that we think we can improve on. But I also think there’s a lot of good things that we need to build on,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose team visits Texas A&M next weekend. “There are signs of the way we played in the second half against Ole Miss and times that we played in this game where we’ve just got to build on that. We’re not where we want to be, we’re not where we need to be.”