This is an opinion column.

With 13:07 left, Alabama head coach Nick Saban leaned in for a chat with Jalen Milroe.

This time it was casual, brief and given the context of this season, rare. There was no tension in a rapidly evacuating Kroger Field — odd since Alabama isn’t used to sucking the life out of a game after three quarters of football.

So that conversation informing the Crimson Tide starter he’d get the rest of the afternoon off was just as much of a throwback as the performance that preceded.

The 49-21 Alabama win at Kentucky was as close to vintage Saban football as it closed an SEC era with its 15th and final West Division title.

This is a team that’s outscored the opposition 118-49 since halftime of the Tennessee game. Offensively, they’ve scored on a whopping 17 of 25 non-garbage time possessions in that span. Of those, 15 were touchdowns.

That’s enough to beat two ranked teams — the Vols and LSU — by two touchdowns apiece before dismantling an overmatched Wildcat team that at one point in September looked to be a real issue for a once-struggling Crimson Tide.

A lot’s changed in two months and Saban was happy to note that Saturday afternoon.

“There were very few people after the Texas game or the South Florida game — there were a lot of naysayers out there that never really believed in these guys.”

My hand is raised.

“But,” Saban continued, “I always believed in this team and trusted in this team that they would develop into something special. And it has been special.”

The definable story arc from a program entering the twilight phase to a playoff contender felt a bit like the final 30 minutes of Goodfellas.

Two months of pure madness without a moment to relax, this was a high-speed sprint to the Iron Bowl with no room for error. The last part of that isn’t unfamiliar territory. Winning every game through the fog of justified paranoia and weekly flirtations with the end got taxing so Alabama decided to do it old school on Saturday.

They snatched Kentucky’s soul early — allowing brief glimmers of hope only when screwing up themselves. The first two Kentucky touchdowns came after a muffed punt in Alabama territory and a drive-extending roughing-the-passer flag.

There was an ill-advised Milroe interception reminiscent of the Texas game but otherwise, Alabama continued to play like the hottest team in the nation without a suspended head coach.

This was an Alabama team that trailed in four of the previous six SEC games this season. Only once, the 40-17 win at Mississippi State, allowed Saban to relieve Milroe for a backup before Kentucky and this Wildcat team was significantly better than the Bulldogs. They were once ranked 20th after scoring the first 23 points in a noon kickoff against Florida but Alabama ran straight past the trap door waiting in Lexington.

And this slow-starting Crimson Tide team broke that trend in Lexington.

Sprinting the first few furlongs to a 21-0 lead saw Milroe complete his first seven passes — two for touchdowns — while the defense effectively scored the other. A scooped fumble left the Tide on the 1-yard line for Milroe’s third of six touchdowns of the game.

Through three drives apiece, Alabama scored three touchdowns and Kentucky netted exactly three yards. It was over before noon in Tuscaloosa.

The third-down efficiency carried over from the LSU game with the Tide converting 7 of 11 but the plot twist came in another stat sheet column.

Sacks allowed: Zero.

This was a team that ranked 127th of 133 FBS teams giving up an average of 4.11 a game. Milroe had time to throw and didn’t panic or flee the pocket and into pressure like he had earlier in the season. That was most evident in the only brief moment of tension after Kentucky cut it to a two-score game after halftime. Facing third-and-17 near midfield, Milroe sat calmly behind his wall of blockers before spotting Kobe Prentice for a 30-yard strike. Three plays later, Milroe’s three-yard touchdown run made it 35-14.

His one-yard tush push on the first play of the fourth quarter would be his last of the day.

That chat with Saban a few moments later informed Milroe he’d get a Tua fourth quarter. From the sideline, he saw Ty Simpson lead a 7-play, 66-yard touchdown drive as Kroger Field emptied like there was a basketball scrimmage in the parking lot.

That led to a conversation more significant in Saban’s mind. Before road games, the 72-year-old coach said the best measure is the ability to empty the bowl with time on the clock.

“Hey coach,” Saban paraphrased a few players saying, “look around.”

For at least one afternoon in the sun, the Crimson Tide was back to making an SEC team quit early enough to plug the backup QB in with a quarter to play.

Alabama again looked like Alabama.

And this story’s far from over.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.