Jalen Milroe tells the truth of Alabama football after reporter's baited question | Toppmeyer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The reporter asked Jalen Milroe the worst type of question — a leading yes-or-no query to which the Alabama quarterback was never going to answer in the negative.

Do you think this team is a national championship team still?

What was Milroe going to say to that? No, we’re more like a Citrus Bowl team. Of course not.

Milroe, though, did something interesting. He refused to take the bait. Instead of giving the reporter the preconceived answer he wanted to obtain, he offered a peek at where his mind was Saturday after No. 12 Alabama took care of No. 16 Ole Miss 24-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“This team is a work in progress,” Milroe said, a truthful assessment after Alabama (3-1, 1-0 SEC) prevailed thanks to a dominant defensive effort and a resurgent second half on offense that followed a mistake-filled first half.

“We’re going to continue to grow and allow us to acknowledge that we (have) room for improvement. I trust in the guys in the locker room.”

In other words, Alabama winning in this fashion isn’t good enough long term, because although it was good enough to beat Ole Miss (3-1, 0-1 SEC), it won't be good enough for the Crimson Tide to run the table. And that’s what they must do to win the national championship.

By admitting Alabama played like an unfinished product, Milroe echoed his coach’s sentiments.

As much as Nick Saban liked how his team hung in and got the desired result after that first half, he wasn’t prepared to forget all those blunders that made this game closer than it could have been.

“I've got a lot of things testing my patience,” he said.

Such as? A holding penalty negating a touchdown. By Saban’s count, that’s the fifth time this season a penalty erased a touchdown.

What else is testing his patience? The four sacks Alabama allowed. That’s 16 sacks allowed through four games.

How about another? The misfired snap that cost Alabama a touchdown opportunity after a blocked punt had given it first-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

So, yeah, Saban applauded his team’s effort and its refusal to let mistakes fester. But he’s not excusing the mistakes. He can’t, not if this Alabama season is destined for something other than the Citrus Bowl.

“They need to learn about themselves,” he said, “in terms of having confidence in what they can do when they do things correctly and how important that is — when they’re physical and they compete in the game and they’re relentless in their effort and how they try to dominate their box and they play with discipline and we don’t have the negative plays that we keep sort of shooting ourselves in the foot with, too often. We’ve got to eliminate those.”

Considering the pass rush he faced, Milroe played well. He completed 17-of-21 passes. Still, he threw a bad interception when he failed to recognize a cornerback sinking to provide double coverage on Ja'Corey Brooks.

“You’re a point guard," Saban said of the interception. "You can’t turn the ball over. You’ve got to get assists.”

Lane Kiffin deserves the assist for this Alabama victory. He coached like his mind was on his next pithy tweet.

“Came to win and didn’t get it done. Put it on me not our players,” Kiffin posted to social media after the game.

I’m good with putting this loss on Kiffin’s shoulders. He makes his living with offense, but his Rebels looked as out of sync as ever.

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This two-touchdown win could have been an absolute rout if Alabama's blunders didn’t sidetrack three red-zone opportunities.

Saban sounds like he’s had enough of coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Milroe, too.

Alabama’s game-altering third quarter wasn’t perfect, but it was dang good. It teased the potential of this team and its quarterback.

That doesn’t equate a finished product.

Saban and Milroe know Alabama remains a work in progress.

Fortunately for the Tide, a weakened SEC may afford it the necessary time to figure this out.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Jalen Milroe avoids bait, tells truth about Alabama football