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WATCH: John Metchie III catches 46-yard touchdown for Alabama lead

by:Austin Brezina•10/16/21•

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Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

No. 5 Alabama opened up the scoring against Mississippi State with a huge touchdown catch from wide receiver John Metchie III for 46 yards and the lead. Metchie’s touchdown came on Alabama’s first drive of the game after Mississippi State’s first drive ended with an interception.

John Metchie III gives Alabama first touchdown

On a simple shallow crossing route, Metchie caught the ball about five yards past the line of scrimmage for the first down. Turning up the field, Metchie made a defender miss by just escaping his tackle and had plenty of room in front of him. After receiving a block on the safety in pursuit, Metchie was able to cut back behind him and make it into the end zone before anybody could catch him.

The big play came on Alabama’s first drive of the game after senior defensive back Josh Jobe intercepted quarterback Will Rogers on Alabama’s side of the field.

Alabama vs Mississippi State

Alabama head coach Nick Saban knew the challenge that awaited Alabama on Saturday against Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide lost last week to drop to 5-1 and are looking to get back on track with a victory on the road. Mississippi State is 3-2 on the year and defeated Texas A&M two weeks ago before last week’s bye.

With Alabama needing to get back in the win column, Saban talked about the challenges of facing an improving Mississippi State team. He said that this year’s team is much better than last year’s.

“They’re a good team. They are much better than they were a year ago,” Saban said of Mississippi State. “They play better on defense and the quarterback is a lot better. He played half the game against us last year but he was a freshman, and he’s been starting ever since. They’ve added a couple of skill guys, transfers that are much better receivers than what they had. Their offensive line is better. They’re a much better team than we faced a year ago. And the games they lost were very close. This will be a very challenging game.”

On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this article.