Alabama coach Nick Saban has history on his side against Mississippi State, but that has also been a matter of his hall-of-fame coaching abilities.

Saban hasn’t lost back-to-back regular season games since his first season with the Tide in 2007 or had two consecutive losses since losing the Iron Bowl in 2013 and then the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.

Mississippi State will challenge that string at 7 p.m. on Saturday in an ESPN game as a 21-point underdog.

This is an Alabama team that leads the nation in the number of penalties it has committed after drawing 17 flags in a 52-49 loss to Tennessee last Saturday.

Saban stood idly by as the Tide mismanaged the clock in the final minute, allowing the Vols to get the ball back and drive for the winning score.

Has Saban loosened his grip and oversight on the program to the extent that this could be the beginning of the end of his dominance in the SEC?

Former Saban national championship defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt provided some insight into what’s going on behind the big Crimson Wall this week.

“You have to go back and correct the mistakes that you made, and Alabama made a ton of mistakes in that game,” Pruitt said.

“One thing, just knowing Coach Saban, he’s not going to look in the rearview mirror. He’s going to be positive with his coaching staff and he’s going to be positive with his team, because when you have college football playoffs, Alabama still controls their own destiny, so their season is in front of them.

“They’d better get ready for a good Mississippi State team this week.”

The Maroon Bulldogs saw their three-game win streak snapped at Kentucky, falling 27-17, and are now fighting to stay alive in the West Division race.

“This is the one thing about coaching, where (Saban) has done an excellent job with the 18 to 22-year-olds of getting them to move on and go to the next game,” Pruitt said, “and that’s something that will be very important for them this week.”

Alabama enters the game as the most penalized team (66 flags) in the nation.

The pick: Alabama 41, Mississippi State 14

Ole Miss at LSU (-2.5) (3:30 p.m., CBS)

The Rebels currently lead the SEC West Division and remain among nine FBS unbeaten teams.

The Bayou Bengals are coming off a resounding road win at Florida that saw Brian Kelly take Billy Napier to school in a battle of first-year coaches.

Auburn rushed for more than 300 yards on Ole Miss in Oxford, a good sign for an LSU team that will be playing its first home game since getting embarrassed by Tennessee two weeks ago.

The pick: LSU 27, Ole Miss 26

Vanderbilt at Missouri -14 (4 p.m., SEC Network)

The Commodores are coming off a run of playing three consecutive Top 10 teams, most recently dropping a 55-0 decision to Georgia.

Missouri is coming off a bye week after dropping three straight to Auburn, Georgia and Florida, hungry for its first SEC win.

The pick: Missouri 34, Vanderbilt 19

UT-Martin at Tennessee -37.5 (Noon, SEC Network)

The Vols are still celebrating the win over Alabama (Yes, really), and UT-Martin is the next team to get run over by Josh Heupel’s fast-break offense.

Tennessee will rest some players, but not at the expense of scoring points and running up stats to retain No. 1 overall offense standing.

The pick: Tennessee 63, UT-Martin 13

Texas A&M -3.5 at South Carolina (7:30 p.m., SEC Network)

The Gamecocks have never beaten the Aggies — their designated crossover SEC West rival — in the programs’ eight meetings dating back to 2014.

This has to change at some point, right?

The pick: South Carolina 24, Texas A&M 21

Season: 42-15 straight-up, 26-29 vs. spread