Big play turns Tide

STARKVILLE, Miss. — He couldn’t take a sack.

John Parker Wilson knew that. Alabama’s junior quarterback knew his team was out of timeouts as it lined up for its third-and-goal play from the Mississippi State 2-yard line with 21 seconds left in the first half.

It could have been a knockout punch. A touchdown puts Alabama up 16-3 at the half and sends a lifeless Bulldog team to the locker room staring at 30 long minutes to get something started.

Instead, State cornerback Anthony Johnson picked off Wilson at the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a game-changing, memory-making, record-breaking touchdown. Mississippi State went on to win 17-12 in front of a record 56,188 at Scott Field.

There wasn’t much doubt which play created the turnaround. Wilson faked a handoff into the line and turned to bootleg to the right. He was met almost immediately by State sack specialist Titus Brown. Wilson hurriedly fired the ball toward the end zone.

“I was trying to get rid of it, throw it away,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t get enough on it.”

It had just enough to get to the sophomore Johnson. He finished the play 100 yards away with four seconds left in the first half. The momentum never left Mississippi State’s sideline.

The Bulldogs (6-4, 3-3 SEC) earned their second straight victory over Alabama — their first wins since winning three straight from 1996-98.

This is the first time since 2000 that Mississippi State has beaten Alabama and Auburn in the same season.

“This is a big game for us for a lot of reasons,” State head coach Sylvester Croom said. “One, it is the first time we’ve been bowl eligible in a long time. Two, Alabama is our second most important rival. Third, our seniors beat Alabama two years in a row.

“I am proud proud of them because they hung in there and believed when a lot of people didn’t. A lot of people and teammates did not believe and left them, but they stayed behind because they believed. Days like this are proof of their effort.”

Alabama fell to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the SEC. The Tide plays at home next week against Louisiana Monroe at 1:30 p.m., then plays at Auburn on Nov. 24.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said the interception return was huge, but added the Tide recovered at halftime.

“I told the players at halftime, when we get adverse circumstances, everybody’s going to judge you on how you respond. So forget about it, get over it, look forward to the next play,” Saban said. “I thought we were OK. I didn’t see anybody hang-dogging.”

He said it wouldn’t do any good to scream at Wilson for the error in judgment.

“You think he doesn’t feel bad about it?” Saban asked. “I betcha he feels worse about it than anybody that roots for Alabama, anybody that writes for Alabama, anybody that coaches for Alabama. I’ll betcha he feels worse about it than anybody. So we support him, pat him on the back. He knows he shouldn’t have done that. He needed to throw it away.”

But on the first series of the third quarter, Wilson’s pass for Matt Caddell on third-and-8 from the 41 sailed high and Derek Pegues picked it off and returned it 40 yards to the Alabama 25.

“Again, not being able to run the ball consistently, not having the balance we need to have creates some long-yardage situations,” Saban said. “We’re throwing the ball down the field and the guy made a good play and intercepted it.”

It took five plays — four of them Anthony Dixon runs — for State to cash in. The one non-rush was a nice pass from freshman quarterback Wesley Carroll to fullback Eric Hoskins that gave the Bulldogs a first-and-goal on the 9. That came on third-and-4 from the 19. State was 7-of-16 on third down. Alabama was 4-of-14.

“I think the difference in the game today was turnovers,” Saban said. “They got 14 points off turnovers. 100-yard touchdown return and they got it down in there on the other.”

State’s 17-9 lead stood up. Alabama’s final points came on Leigh Tiffin’s 50-yard field goal — he also added boots of 39, 51 and 29 yards in the first half — with 6:47 remaining in the game.

That’s when Mississippi State embarked on a key drive that didn’t get points, but doomed Alabama nonetheless. The Bulldogs ate up six minutes on an 11-play, 38-yard march.
It included a draw play to Christian Ducre for 11 yards on third-and-10 at the Tide 45 with three minutes left.

“That, to me, was critical in the game. Third-and-10, still over two minutes to go,” said Saban, who called timeout before the play at 3:01. “We decided to use our timeout because they had it in second-and-15 and we thought we could get them stopped there.”

Alabama gave up just 215 total yards, and 115 on the ground. Cornerback Simeon Castille said it felt like a missed opportunity.

“Definitely. I just feel like this is a game we could have won, but we didn’t execute well enough to win,” Castille said. “We’ve still got two games left. This isn’t what we had in mind, but we’ve got to go back to work and get ready for Louisiana-Monroe, then Auburn and then our bowl game. We can still do some good things with our season.”

First quarter
12:00 Alabama 3, Mississippi State 0: Leigh Tiffin 39 field goal. 6 plays, 12 yards, 1:24. Key play: Rashad Johnson intercepted his sixth pass of the year, setting up Alabama at Mississippi State’s 34.

8:25 Alabama 6, MSU 0: Tiffin 51 field goal. 5 plays, 25 yards, 2:29. Key play: A 15-yard facemask penalty on Titus Brown wiped out a 9-yard loss and gave the Tide a first down on the Mississippi State 40.

Second quarter
8:39 Alabama 9, MSU 0: Tiffin 29 field goal. 10 plays, 52 yards, 4:42. Key play: Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson completed a third-and-10 to Matt Caddell in the seam, behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties. The 20-yard play moved the Tide to the MSU 44.

4:12 Alabama 9, MSU 3: Adam Carlson 35 field goal. 11 plays, 52 yards, 4:24. Key play: Freshman quarterback Wesley Carroll converted on third-and-7 by firing a strike to Jamayel Smith for 19 yards to the Alabama 21.

0:04 MSU 10, Alabama 9: Anthony Johnson 100 interception return (Carlson PAT). Key play: Definitely. The ill-advised pass came on third-and-goal from the 2, after two running plays got one yard. Wilson was going to bootleg to the right, but was met by Titus Brown as soon as he turned and threw a pass with nothing on it. It floated into Johnson’s arms.

Third quarter
11:35 MSU 17, Alabama 9: Anthony Dixon 3 run (Carlson PA). 5 plays, 25 yards, 1:40. Key play: Free safety Derek Pegues picked off Wilson’s pass for Caddell that sailed high, and returned it 30 yards to the Alabama 25. Carroll flipped a 10-yard pass to fullback Eric Hoskins that got State inside the 10.

Fourth quarter
6:47 MSU 17, Alabama 12: Tiffin 50 field goal. 10 plays, 44 yards, 3:58. Key play: Jonathan Lowe rushed five times for 24 yards on the march, including a 12-yard carry to the MSU 27