• Recap
• Bleachers

Alabama continues home streak with win over Mississippi State

Nov 14, 2010 - 5:15 AM Tuscaloosa, AL (Sports Network) - Greg McElroy completed 12-of-18 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns, while being intercepted once, as 11th-ranked Alabama bounced back from a loss to LSU with a convincing 30-10 win over 17th- rated Mississippi State at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Mark Ingram ran for 53 yards on 18 carries and caught two passes for 77 yards and a score while Marquis Maze made five grabs for 89 yards and a touchdown for the Crimson Tide (8-2, 5-2), who have taken three straight and eight of the last 10 meetings from the Bulldogs.

Julio Jones made three catches for 41 yards and dashed 56 yards for a touchdown for the hosts, who have won 19 straight home games.

"I am pleased with the way our team played today," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. "I was pleased with how anxious they were to bounce back and compete, to be relentless in the game, to try to be physical and to establish the kind of identity for our team that we want to have in terms of intensity, toughness, ability to execute and focus. There are still some inconsistencies in the running game, which is something we need to continue to work on and get better at."

Chris Relf connected on 8-of-16 passes for 70 and was intercepted once before being relieved by Tyler Russell, who went 4-for-7 for 80 yards and a touchdown for the Bulldogs (7-3, 3-3), who had a six-game win streak, their longest since 1999, snapped.

"We did not follow our recipe of what has gotten us here, which was take care of the football, make plays when we need to make them on both sides of the ball and the kicking game," said Bulldogs' head coach Dan Mullen. "We were sloppy. One thing you get worried about coming off a bye week and the disadvantage of coming off the bye week is getting back into the speed of things again. We need to learn from this and our young players need to learn from this. These environments are places you have to learn to come in and win at if you're going to build a championship football program."

Alabama got the ball to start the game and moved to the Bulldogs' 19-yard line before Ingram gained only a yard on 3rd-on-2. Jeremy Shelley came on to nail a 36-yard field goal to get the Tide on the board 3:05 into the game.

The teams then traded field goals, as Derek DePasquale's 24-yard field goal tied the game with just over 5 1/2 minutes to go in the quarter before Cade Foster put the hosts ahead again with a 45-yarder with 50 ticks to go.

McElroy found Maze on the right side for a short completion before he shed a tackle, slashed inside to his left at the Bulldogs' 30 and raced into the end zone to give Alabama a 13-3 edge with 7:09 to go before halftime.

Mississippi State picked up a couple of first downs on their next drive before it stalled and they were forced to punt. Maze brought the kick back 81 yards for a touchdown that was nullified by a penalty but the Tide wasted little time making up for their mistake.

On the ensuing play, Ingram took a screen pass to the right side, got sprung by a Jones block and outraced every tackler down the sideline 78 yards to paydirt to finish off the longest reception of his career and give the Tide a 20-3 advantage.

Jones ran right on an end around, slipped a tackle at midfield and sprinted to the end zone to finish off his 56-yard run on Alabama's first play from scrimmage in the second half to extend the margin to 27-3.

Shelley added his second field goal of the night from 28 yards out just over three minutes into the fourth quarter to give the Tide a 27-point cushion.

Tyler Russell took over for Relf and directed a 10-play, 78-yard drive that he capped off with a 27-yard scoring pass to Chad Bumphis, who outjumped two defenders to make the grab with just over eight minutes left in the game.

Game Notes

Alabama leads the all-time series, 73-18-3, including a 40-9-1 mark in Tuscaloosa...The Tide have won five of the last six meetings as the hosts...The Tide's 19 straight home wins are one shy of the third longest streak in school history, established from November 1, 1941 to November 11, 1950...The Tide have won 10 of their last 12 games against ranked opponents...Vick Ballard led the Bulldogs with 80 rushing yards on 19 carries while LaDarius Perkins toted eight times for 44 yards...Bumphis was the visitors' leading receiver with three catches for 43 yards.