Mississippi State’s players were different, the scheme was altered, fans rattled cowbells with vigor. But by the end of Saturday night, a group of Alabama defenders was still able to stand in the back corner of Davis Wade Stadium, look out onto the field and reflect on their handiwork.

Outside linebacker Chris Braswell had scored his first touchdown since high school on a pick-six in the first quarter, blitzing MSU for a 14-0 lead. Braswell noticed the crowd start to quiet after that. Defensive back Jaylen Key, shortly after posting his season-high nine tackles, watched the stands empty in the second half as Alabama picked off quarterback Will Rogers twice more and earned boos from the crowd. And in the middle of it — handling play-calling duties for an entire game for the first time in a Crimson Tide uniform — Trezmen Marshall felt the added responsibility was “nothing new.”

“Early turnovers? Those kind of ignite us. … They’re kind of contagious,” Key said following No. 12 Alabama’s 40-17 win.

If the Tide (4-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) will be without starting middle linebacker Deontae Lawson for multiple weeks after he suffered a “pretty good” ankle sprain on Sept. 23, the smothering performance against the Bulldogs should inspire confidence.

Marshall, a Georgia transfer, orchestrated the defense and posted nine total tackles and 1.5 sacks. Next up on the depth chart was sophomore Jihaad Campbell, who doubled up his career-best seven stops against Ole Miss with 14 tackles and an interception against MSU. Alabama has allowed 30 total points in its last three games, even more impressive considering Ole Miss scored 55 against LSU as the Tide kicked off.

Mississippi State (2-3, 0-3) also entered off a historic offensive performance versus South Carolina. Tulu Griffin set a single-game receiving yard program record (256 yards) Quarterback Will Rogers set a career-high with 487 passing yards.

Through MSU’s first 9 plays last night, it generated 8 yards and Rogers had a pass tipped by Jah-Marien Latham which led to Braswell’s 28-yard return. Griffin caught five passes for 21 yards and tallied one yard after catch.

“Bras did a great job on that (defensive touchdown),” Nick Saban said, “We run the pressure into the boundary – he was playing defensive end, and he dropped to the field. I think it probably confused the quarterback a little bit, and he did a great job. A big play in the game.”

The Bulldogs pivoted away from the Air Raid this fall. They began to run the ball every time it saw Alabama’s defense put, as Saban described it, “junk” on the field, or a look with more defensive backs to bait Rogers into a bad decision. While UA conceded 4.4 yards a carry (154 total with a handful of long third-down conversions) Rogers went 15-for-27 with 107 yards and three interceptions.

Rogers’ third-quarter passing touchdown to Jeffery Pittman was MSU’s first against Alabama since 2014 (Dak Prescott).

“I’m not gonna lie, you gotta learn concepts,” Marshall said. “When you’re with Coach (Kirby) Smart and Coach Saban, you ain’t really learning the defense. You’re learning the concept and you apply the concept to different calls. You just get better at it. You’re gonna have a bust here and there, but as long as you stay down, communicate with your teammates, it’s going to work out.”

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].