It sounds funny.

Alabama's victory over Vanderbilt was a "statement win."

Those comments are usually reserved for a win over high profile program. Not for a perennial SEC cellar-dweller like Vandy. But Nick Saban's opening statement told just how big of a statement the Tide made in three hours of work Saturday night that resulted in a 55-3 win.

“I think we’ve shown a pretty good pattern here of making improvements – a little bit of an upward trend." Saban said. "I think we are getting closer to playing the way we'd like to play. The challenges get greater as we go, so we have to continue to focus on moving forward and improving. But we had some guys play really well tonight"

One of those guys who played really well was quarterback Bryce Young, who was 25-of-36 for 385 yards and four touchdown passes. Ja'Corey Brooks was also really good. Brooks had six catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns. The Tide was up 31-3 at halftime.

Will Anderson Jr. led a defense that kept Vandy out of the end zone. Anderson recorded five tackles, three tackles for loss. He also got to the quarterback, racking up two-and-a-half sacks. Vandy was held to 129 total yards.

"I think the team played really well," Saban said. "I think the team sort of bought into everybody trying to play to a standard, and I think this is probably the closest we've come to that so far this year. The key to the drill is can we continue to build on it.”

The Tide now runs into a three-game stretch that will help define their season. They go on the road Saturday to play Arkansas, then return home to play Texas A&M Oct. 8 and then hit the road again for game at Tennessee.