Mullen, MSU winning playing Alabama-style football

No. 17 Mississippi State has embraced a formula that’s familiar to Alabama fans: Physical, attacking defense, pounding offense and a penchant for winning the turnover battle. It’s working for the Bulldogs, while the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide have slipped by its standards. The Bulldogs (7-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) ride a six-game winning streak into Tuscaloosa Saturday night while Alabama (7-2, 4-2) is starting to look mortal, if not vulnerable. The Tide is coming off a 24-21 loss at No. 5 LSU that took the defending champions out of the national title picture and left coach Nick Saban grumbling about his team’s attitude.We’re 2-2 in our last four games. We’re not last year’s team and this year’s team has got to decide what they want to accomplish,” Saban said. "We harp on focus and execution and sometimes we have some lapses and we don’t get it." "It’s been very costly relative to what we could accomplish. The players are going to have to respond to that, and it’s a reality check.” The season hasn’t been a total letdown for Alabama, which is still in the running for a BCS bowl. Mississippi State fans have few complaints about a team that is enjoying a terrific season even if it has been largely overshadowed in a loaded SEC Western Division. The Bulldogs have won six straight for the second time since 1955 and first since opening the 1999 season 8-0. They’ve got considerable ground to make up to turn this game from across the state line into a rivalry. Alabama leads the series 72-18-3 and has won seven of the last nine. "When you start winning games and splitting those wins and it becomes a tough game each year, then it becomes a little more of a rivalry," Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. A Bulldogs win would be another signal of how far they’ve come in Mullen’s second season. They were picked to finish last in the SEC West while Alabama was the preseason favorite to win the division, and a second straight national title. Instead, they come into the game with virtually identical records.