Jalen Hurts doesn't remember when it happened. It was at some point during the third quarter -- presumably when Alabama was losing to Mississippi State.

A member of ESPN's production crew was standing beside him.

Unprompted, Hurts turned to the stranger and proclaimed, "I was built for stuff like this."

The anecdote encapsulated the mythology surrounding Hurts -- Alabama's preternaturally poised quarterback who on this night wrote another chapter in his legend as he willed the Crimson Tide to a 31-24 win over Mississippi State.

Since he began playing in Tuscaloosa, the lore surrounding Hurts has grown. His legion of followers know that somehow, some way, he'll find the path toward victory.

They'd seen him prevail down twenty-one points to Ole Miss. They'd watched him single-handedly break a scoreless deadlock in the fourth quarter in the crucible of LSU's Death Valley. Before Saturday, he stepped on the field 24 times as a member of the Crimson Tide and walked off it a winner on 23 occasions.

Then, on a cold night in Starkville, Miss., Hurts enjoyed his most heroic performance yet.

In a game Alabama seemed so close to losing, the Tide's talisman engineered a comeback before applying the exclamation point to this fascinating drama -- a 26-yard touchdown strike to DeVonta Smith with 25 seconds left.

"Most of the time, the bigger the situation, the better he is," Alabama coach Nick Saban.

But for much of the night, Hurts was reduced to a mere mortal and made a supporting character in this thriller. He was done in by an offensive line that failed to control the line of scrimmage and a defense that couldn't find a way to give him enough opportunities to shine.

For more than 33 of the first 45 minutes, Hurts was a spectator -- standing on the sideline helpless.

Up until that point, he led seven drives and Alabama scored on three of them -- a 43 percent success rate that would make any coach happy.

But Saban paced the far sideline with a look of concern as Mississippi State dictated the terms.

Excluding Hurts' two completions to Calvin Ridley, the Tide averaged 4.3 yards per play in the first three quarters and struggled to string together time-consuming possessions against an aggressive Bulldogs defense.

"They threw everything at us," Ridley said.

In many ways, the problems that afflicted Alabama in a 14-point victory over LSU seven days before resurfaced Saturday.

In that game, Hurts was sacked four times and pressured on 13 occasions. Alabama's vaunted ground attack, meanwhile, generated only 3.2 yards per carry.

Afterwards, Saban maligned the offensive line's performance.

"We didn't do a good job of blocking them up front," Saban said last Monday. "I don't think we did a good job of getting movement, which affected our ability and consistency in the running game. And when they created pass situations, we had far too many third-and-longs."

It was a recipe for a disaster Alabama managed to skirt. But on Saturday the Tide flirted with calamity again and came much closer to realizing it.

Hurts, who passed for 242 yards and gained 40 more with his legs, did all that he could to avoid the upset that stared him in the face.

He completed those two critical passes to Ridley that netted 124 yards and set up a pair of game-tying touchdowns.

In the fourth quarter, Hurts spearheaded a 10-play, 82-yard scoring drive that forged yet another deadlock -- knotting the score at 24 apiece.

On that possession, Hurts pulled another Houdini act, escaping for 13 yards on a fourth-and-4 situation at Mississippi State's 34-yard line.

But his best was yet to come.

There was 1:09 left in regulation and Alabama stood 68 yards from the end zone with nothing separating the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs. It was still 24-24. Hurts, unfazed as he always is, was confident Alabama would reach its destination.

He looked at the clock and then reflected on his only loss of his career -- the 35-31 defeat to Clemson in the national championship clash last season.

He remembered the touchdown drive Deshaun Watson launched to steal a victory and tear the hearts out of Alabama's players.

Hurts was determined to do the same to Mississippi State.

In the cacophony of ringing cowbells and screaming fans, Hurts focused on the task and maintained his composure. He had the awareness to notice the Bulldogs were planning to bring all-out pressure as the Tide faced a third-and-15 situation at Alabama's 43-yard line. So he signaled to Ridley to adjust his route to a slant.

Ridley initially objected.

"Don't change it!" he yelled at Hurts.

Hurts insisted.

"Trust me," he said. "I got you."

He then delivered a pinpoint pass to Ridley that gained 31 yards. Seconds later, on the very next play, he connected with Smith for the winning touchdown -- helping Alabama preserve its undefeated season while creating the kind of storybook ending fit for a legend.

"I felt like I've been here before," Hurts said.

It's because he has. Over and over again. And in the end, he's usually the one standing tall because that's how mythology works; the hero tends to win.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin