Jalen Milroe He ran across the field for the last time Saturday night in Death Valley. After alabama football The quarterback completed his postgame interview with ABC, running toward Crimson Tide fans at LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

The redshirt junior flashed the “LANK” sign he helped make famous last season, then hopped over the purple wall in the end zone, reveling with the Crimson Tide faithful for a moment. He had cleared the rest of the stadium, 102,283 humans and one imposter tiger, earlier.

“I’m definitely proud to get the road win,” Milroe said after the 42-13 victory. “It’s not an easy task to go on the road and play a tough opponent in LSU and get a win. So we should definitely appreciate the victory.”

If that sounds like a boring quote from a guy who just ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns, that’s because it is. That’s what Milroe is when the cameras are on, the media trained to perfection, never interrupting his talking points.

Win or lose, Milroe is the same, he never tries to make headlines with his words. He did a lot of that with his game on Saturday.

“Jalen was Jalen,” Crimson Tide offensive lineman Tyler Booker said.

LSU had no answer for Milroe. On the game’s first drive, he broke loose, found a weak spot in the Tigers’ defense and ran 39 yards down the field for his first score.

He added another score in the second quarter, from 10 yards out. Another 19 in the third.

Milroe capped off a 72-yard touchdown run in the fourth, long after LSU had high hopes for a comeback.

“He obviously has a superpower when it comes to running the ball,” DeBoer said of Milroe. “You can see him not only as a guy getting first downs, but finishing in the end zone.”

Suddenly, Milroe is mirroring the jump to late-season form that defined his 2023. Certain segments of fans were calling for his benching after Alabama’s losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee earlier in the season.

Then, with the Crimson Tide facing elimination from the College Football Playoff race, he found himself relaxing on the sideline with more than seven minutes left, watching Ty Simpson take the reins, not because of Milroe’s poor play, but because the game It was just as good as above.

“If you’re watching the game, you’re wondering, ‘What did these guys do for two weeks?’ LSU coach Brian Kelly said afterward. “We have a plan to stop the quarterback. We didn’t get it done.”

Did Milroe do enough to recapture the Heisman Trophy hype he was receiving earlier in the season? Maybe.

Did he prove he can be the best quarterback the SEC has to offer on his best day? Absolutely.

“Forgive, never forget,” Milroe said. “I think that’s something we do as a football team. You’re going to have losses, you’re going to have wins. And all your losses can become a lesson. And just try to look internally at what we need to do so we can be our best selves.”

Suddenly, Milroe and Alabama are in top form entering the crucial stretch of the season. UA was ranked No. 11 in the most recent CFP rankings and will likely need to win to make the 12-team field.

That seemed unlikely after the Tennessee loss, where both the Tide and their quarterback looked like a mess. Now, the path is obvious, with Mercer, Oklahoma and Auburn on the schedule to close the season, none of them as talented on paper as the LSU team that Alabama dismantled.

The dream is still alive. And Milroe can keep it that way.