“Get your popcorn ready,” Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin said right before running out onto the field before the game.

Last year, Kiffin challenged Alabama and Nick Saban all game long, going toe-to-toe with his former boss. Eventually, Alabama’s depth showed up, and the Crimson Tide won the game by 15 points late.

No one was surprised that Alabama ended up pulling away in that game, but everyone was excited for what the next game could bring. This included Lane Kiffin’s popcorn comments.

None of that mattered by the time the Crimson Tide jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead.

Alabama ended up winning this home contest 42-21 letting Ole Miss score two touchdowns in garbage time at the end of the game. Defense stepped up, and the Alabama run game finally took over a game.

Alabama ran the ball well

As we foreshadowed in a our game preview, the Tide leaned on Brian Robinson, Jr. and the ground game.

Robinson had 171 yards against the Rebels. Along with his high-yardage output, he also ran the ball into the endzone for six points on four different occasions.

Robinson would have outscored Ole Miss all by himself.

While the run game was elite, the real key to the run game was slowing the game down for Alabama’s defense to rest, and opening up the Tide passing game for Bryce Young and company.

Limiting the Ole Miss ground game

Ole Miss was not as fruitful as Alabama was when running the ball averaging only 2.3 yards-per-carry compared to the Tide’s 4.2.

For a better understanding, Bama’s 50 runs earned them 210 total yards. If Ole Miss would have ran 50 times with their average they would have only gained 115 yards.

Alabama’s defensive line stepped up like fans were hoping they would and shut down the run along with the linebackers.

Thanks to that effort, the linebackers and secondary were able to hold integrity to their assignments instead of cheating up for the run. Really, that was the key to limiting the Ole Miss air-raid.

For one last look into the data and evidence of the effects of shutting down the Rebel’s rushing attack, let’s compare the two opposing quarterbacks. Young went 20-26 for 241 yards, and Matt Corral for Ole Miss went 21-26 for 213 yards.

So both were pretty comparable, but the scores were so different.

The Tide defense let the passing game compare to their team’s offensive passing game. However, they made sure to stay strong against the run. Ole Miss lives off of their ability to run, and it literally sets up their entire offense.

Executing and defending the running game was the most important aspect of the Tide’s game in a big win over the No. 12 team in the nation.

While Georgia tried to prove its worth by blowing out Arkansas, thinking it might help them jump Alabama for the number one spot, the Tide pushed that opportunity to the wayside by making it known that they deserve to be at the top of the mountain.

The Crimson Tide made it clear that they are the best team in all of college football and will travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M next week.

The Aggies will be looking to knock off the Tide and avenge their loss from last year.

However, if the Tide defense can shut down Isaiah Spiller like they did Mississippi’s running back room, Alabama will have no problem at 7:00 p.m. in “Aggieland” next weekend.

Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football and college basketball writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: Hayden@yellowhammernews.com or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.