Robinson, Tide roll over Rebels

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for career highs of 171 yards and four touchdowns, and No. 1 Alabama mostly throttled the nation’s top offense in a 42-21 victory Saturday over No. 12 Mississippi.

Bryce Young passed for a couple of touchdowns for the Crimson Tide (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) but the ’Bama defense and ground game stole some of the thunder from a matchup of the two leading Heisman Trophy contenders coming into the game.

“It was a great opportunity for us today to show how physical we can play for 60 minutes,” said Robinson, a fifth-year senior who carried 36 times in his first 100-yard game.

Alabama turned to Robinson to play keep away from Matt Corral and the offense of the Rebels (3-1, 0-1), who had breezed through three nonconference games before an open date but had some gambles that backfired.

Nick Saban improved to 24-0 against his former assistants, but ex-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin didn’t help his own cause with three failed fourthdown calls in the first half. Saban turned the tables with two touchdowns on fourth-down plays.

“I’m sure I got killed by going for it on fourth down, but that’s analytics,” Kiffin said. “We believe in our players, and it doesn’t work all the time. When it doesn’t work and you follow the book, it doesn’t look good.”

Young completed 21 of 27 passes for 241 yards and was intercepted once for Alabama, which led 28-0 at halftime. Oddsmakers had him as the secondleading Heisman candidate coming into the game, behind only Corral.

Corral ran for a touchdown and passed for another, completing 22 of 32 passes for 213 yards while losing a fumble.