TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama coach Dennis Franchione urged his defense to play better in the second half. Then he quietly gave a more important pep talk.
"I went over to the offense and said, 'You need to think you're going to have to score every down, because it looks like it's going to be that kind of game,"' Franchione said following his team's 28-14 win over Mississippi State on Saturday.
Tyler Watts threw for 223 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, but it was the defense that bailed the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide - twice.
Watts hooked up with Triandos Luke for two touchdowns, including a 36-yarder on fourth-and-11 to give the Crimson Tide (8-2, 5-1 SEC) the final margin with 4:02 left in the third quarter.
The nation's No. 2 defense took over from there, and the unit gave up just 70 yards and five first downs after halftime.
"In the second half, we took control of the game," Tide defensive end Antwan Odom said. "We dominated like we are supposed to."
The Bulldogs (3-6, 0-5), who were three-touchdown underdogs, twice couldn't cash in on big special-teams plays in the fourth quarter. First, Kevin Dockery blocked Lane Bearden's punt, giving Mississippi State the ball at the Alabama 26. Kindal Moorehead stopped Fred Reid short on a fourth-down run.
The Tide went three-and-out again, but Bearden - who has played four straight games with a torn knee ligament in his kicking leg - had to reach for a high snap. His pass was short of the first down.
The Bulldogs couldn't move the ball on four straight plays from the Alabama 15, stuffed again by the Tide. Kevin Fant's fourth-down pass fell short of Ray Bivines.
"Our defense continues to do that, week in and week out," Franchione said. "Offensively, we got one score on the board and kind of did what we needed to do.
"It wasn't a bad day."
Bearden had been able to kick without trouble until that high snap, but he didn't appear to get hurt any further on the play and punted again.
The Tide, which outgained Mississippi State 409-246, again turned it over to the defense after failing to move the ball.
The Bulldogs got the ball back with 3:07 left and no timeouts. Charles Jones intercepted backup quarterback Kyle York's pass to end their already-dim hopes of a comeback.
Kevin Fant was 19-of-33 passing for 127 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but he couldn't get the ball downfield.
Watts went 16-of-22 against the nation's fifth-ranked pass defense, leading three scoring drives of 80-plus yards. He was 5-of-5 for 63 yards on the Tide's final scoring drive, throwing a perfect pass over Luke's right shoulder along the sideline.
Watts also hit Luke on a 15-yarder and Ray Hudson on a 32-yarder to cap the Tide's first two drives.
Santonio Beard ran for 68 yards, and Shaud Williams scored on a 4-yard run for Alabama, which has won four straight league games by a combined score of 134-43.
Both teams scored on their first three possessions of the game. The difference was that Alabama got three touchdowns, and Mississippi State twice had to settle for field goals.
"The good thing is the players played hard and never gave up and that is probably the most productive thing" the Bulldogs did, coach Jackie Sherrill said.
Mississippi State got a 2-yard touchdown pass from Fant to Bivines, and two field goals from Brent Smith against the nation's second-ranked defense. The Bulldogs converted a 2-pointer after the TD.
Alabama had 12 penalties for 121 yards - including one unsportsmanlike conduct flag against Franchione in the first half - but didn't commit a turnover.
"This was a lot closer football game than a lot of people thought," Watts said. "I was just trying not to make the mistakes that will get us beat. We try to take advantage of what the defense gives us."
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