After an afternoon in the cold November air, sweat dripped from the forehead of Jedrick Wills.

Alabama’s right tackle stood in and took a barrage of questions after his star quarterback was sacked four times Saturday. Sure, Alabama won 24-0 and it was never in doubt, but Mississippi State’s consistent pounding on Tua Tagovailoa took a toll.

Seeing the Heisman candidate take hit after hit is personal for those charged with protecting him.

“That’s our quarterback,” Wills said. “That’s our quarterback. A lot of things go through your head at that point. But you just have to make sure he’s good.”

Alabama had allowed just six sacks entering Saturday, the fourth fewest in the nation. The Bulldogs, however, were known for its aggressive defensive line that had its moments again Saturday.

Nick Saban said Tagovailoa could have returned to the game after limping to the sideline injury tent following the fourth sack of the day. They went with Mac Jones instead in the effort to grind out the clock and advance to 10-0.

A few of the hits on Tagovailoa were low and in the neighborhood of his injured right knee. The last one was delivered just above that knee on the blitz that ended his day.

“The NFL has a rule for that,” Saban said. “The NFL has a lot of rules to protect people, some of which people complain about. But I think we have a lot of capable people in the NCAA to make decisions what are good rules relative to player safety. I’ve always been supportive of those rules and I think somebody else should really, sort of, make a decision about whether there’s anything wrong with what happened in this game today.

“I’m not complaining about it. Football is football and it is what it is. We need to do a better job of protecting our quarterback, so people don’t get a chance to hit him.”

Tagovailoa finished 14 of 21 for a season-low 164 yards and an interception on a play following his third sack.

Mississippi State (6-4, 2-4 SEC) made a few adjustments after Alabama zipped down the field on the first two drives of the afternoon. It was 14-0 before the visitors started fighting back.

There were wrinkles to the attack, Wills said.

“They definitely brought some new stuff,” he said. “Like facing the weakside opposite of us, things on the front side that we had to pick up better. But I feel like it’s just communication.”

As part of the postgame media interrogation, Wills was asked point blank, did Alabama lose the pass protection struggle with Mississippi State?

“I wouldn’t say we lost the battle,” he said, “we just have to pick up where we come from. When we look at the film, you get better, communicate better and do the simple things.”

There were a few missed blocks by the running backs as the Bulldogs were credited with three quarterback hurries along with the four sacks.

The sight of Tagovailoa on the turf impacts them too.

“It’s never good to see your quarterback take shots, especially when you know he’s kinda banged up a little bit,” said running back Josh Jacobs. “We have to work on protecting him better, honestly.”

Still, Jacobs said he’s not going to panic every time Tagovailoa’s slow to get up.

“Most people don’t know, most of the time when he’s down on the ground or he’s adjusting his knee brace, it’s just because it slides,” he said. “So, really, he’s tough. He’s tougher than he gets credit. He’ll be alright.”

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.