Alabama football beat Mississippi State 40-17 Saturday night in Starkville. The Crimson Tide shrugged off the din of thousands of cowbells to move to 2-0 in SEC play, 4-1 overall, despite an effort that was uneven at times.

As UA begins to move on to next week’s road battle with Texas A&M in College Station, here are three takeaways from the Mississippi State game.

Alabama was simply better. It didn’t always show it

Alabama seemed like it should have won by more. The Crimson Tide showed its ability throughout the contest, looking like it was on the verge of running away from the Bulldogs but never quite doing so.

Jalen Milroe played well at quarterback for the most part, opening the scoring for the Tide with a 53-yard run where he outran the entire Mississippi State defense. He had help too, Alabama ran the ball well for the most part and Milroe’s receivers made plays when they needed to.

But as good as things could get, it wasn’t consistent enough. That’s been a major point of emphasis for head coach Nick Saban this season, and it was clear why on Saturday.

A missed block here, a poor play call there, Milroe holding the ball just a moment too long and touchdowns turned into field goals. This is a team with room for improvement.

There were obviously positive signs, like a run game that showed some ability to steamroll its opponents and a defense that we’ll get to later. But the margin of victory should have been far better.

The Crimson Tide has to tighten up mental errors

Nick Saban stomped. He yelled. He took off his headset and waved his arms.

Alabama’s coach was furious throughout the first half. And for good reason, his team kept on making crucial mental errors.

It started after Mississippi State’s first drive. The Bulldogs punted and Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry ran to get under it.

With MSU players bearing down, he could have taken the fair catch near the 50-yard line and the Tide could have had a drama-free star to its drive. He didn’t and fumbled after being hit, with Alabama grabbing the recovery.

Later on, Jalen Milroe was looking at the sideline when center Seth McLaughlin snapped the ball on third down. It bounced off Milroe before the Crimson Tide once again made a fortunate recovery, but the play shut down a drive and caused Saban to give McLaughlin the business on the way off the field.

Mental errors have been a major problem for the Crimson Tide this season, and Saturday was no different. The issues got better as the game went along, but eventually, Alabama is going to run up against an opponent that will make it pay dearly if it doesn’t right the ship.

The defense is carrying the load

Jah-Marien Latham tipped the pass at the line. Chris Braswell snagged the interception and took off down the sideline for the touchdown to make it 14-0 Alabama.

The first-quarter play was arguably Alabama’s biggest of the game. It wasn’t the Crimson Tide’s only interception either, with Jihaad Campbell catching a pass MSU quarterback Will Rogers threw right to him in the second quarter.

In the fourth, Alabama made a stop by sacking Rogers on fourth down. The next drive, Caleb Downs picked off Rogers once again.

The Crimson Tide offense couldn’t always capitalize. But the defense gave it every opportunity.

The talent of Alabama’s defensive unit was on display throughout the evening. It’s been the Crimson Tide’s greatest strength throughout the season, and continued to be so Saturday night.

Like everything else from the win, it wasn’t perfect. But the defense as a whole played extremely well, something that will need to continue when Alabama heads to Texas A&M next Saturday.