ATLANTA — Nick Saban used to grumble about what he called “continuous football” — the no-huddle, fast-paced spread offenses that had consumed the college game. Saban, 63, is of a bygone era of huddles and off-tackle runs, and he worried about players’ risk of injury with a higher number of plays because of the no-huddle schemes. He wondered whether the “speedball offense,” as he also called it, would foster a competitive imbalance.  On Saturday here, in a news conference after No. 1 Alabama’s 42-13 trouncing of No. 14 Missouri (10-3) in the Southeastern Conference championship game, Saban put an arm around the quarterback who had dragged him into the sport’s modern era, the senior Blake Sims.  “It’s been very, very beneficial to us — he’s the reason we do it because it’s what he does best,” Saban said of the continuous offense. “If we didn’t do it, I don’t think we would be where we are right now.”  Alabama (12-1) mixed its no-huddle, lickety-split offense with its typical thumping run game, all at the direction of Sims and the offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, and trounced Missouri with 504 yards of total offense. Sims, who was voted the game’s most valuable player, completed 23 of 27 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns.  Alabama is likely to be part of the four-team College Football Playoff and to play in a national semifinal game in New Orleans on Jan. 1.  Sims and wide receiver Amari Cooper were the catalysts for the up-tempo style, with Cooper catching 12 passes, an SEC championship game record, for 83 yards. When Alabama wanted to play a more methodical style, something more in line with its tradition, it handed the ball to the 6-foot-3, 241-pound tailback Derrick Henry, who rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns.  “We’re still playing our style of football,” center Ryan Kelly said. “As fast as we go, we’re still running the football; it’s not like we’re spread out four wide receivers. I think it’s cool that we have combined our SEC style of downhill play with fast-tempo. As much as it gets us exhausted, we see what it does to the defense and how they have a hard time reacting to stuff like that.”  Asked about the combination of “speedball” offense and Saban, Kelly said, “Probably two words you have never heard before.”  On its first drive, Alabama went 68 yards in 10 plays. Sims has quick feet, and as he spun and tossed the ball to Cooper for quick gains, the Tide flew down the field in 3 minutes 36 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. T. J. Yeldon scored from the 1-yard line to cap the drive, and the Tigers were on their heels.  “We didn’t think they were going to be as fast as they were,” said Lucas Vincent, a defensive tackle for Missouri.  The Tigers’ defense sustained a significant blow with 11:48 left in the second quarter when defensive end Shane Ray, the SEC’s leader in sacks and tackles for loss, launched himself into Sims. The hit under Sims’s chin was ruled targeting, and Ray was ejected from the game.  A week after giving up 630 yards to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, Alabama’s defense seemed impenetrable. Defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson could not be blocked in the run game, and Alabama used six defensive backs to defend against Missouri’s spread offense. The Tigers managed just 41 yards rushing. Robinson had nine tackles, including three for losses.  Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk was flushed from the pocket over and over, sometimes by a basic four-man rush. Mauk completed 16 of 34 passes for 272 yards but was hurried 11 times.  Alabama built a 21-3 halftime lead, but Missouri threatened with 10 third-quarter points. On the Tigers’ first possession of the quarter, on third-and-10 from their own 36, Mauk threw deep to wide receiver Jimmie Hunt, who caught the ball over two defensive backs for a 63-yard gain to the 1.  Mauk’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Bud Sasser on fourth down and the extra point made the score 21-10.  Mauk came back on Missouri’s next possession and completed a 47-yard pass to Hunt to set up Andrew Baggett’s 33-yard field goal and narrow the gap to 21-13.  Alabama then showed all of its resources on a 10-play, 64-yard drive that started late in the third quarter. Sims completed screen passes; Henry trampled defenders; the Tide used both the huddle and the no-huddle; and a third wide receiver, Christion Jones, entered the offense. The Crimson Tide took back all the momentum it had lost. Sims flipped a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jones with 14:55 left in the game; Alabama led by 28-13 and cruised from there.  In a college football season characterized by flawed teams — Oregon’s offensive line injuries, Florida State’s uneven play, Ohio State’s quarterback injuries, the flimsy defenses of the Big 12 contenders — Alabama was able to mask its flaws each week with a variety of styles. Fast or methodical on offense, solid between the 20s on defense and blitz-happy in the red zone, the Crimson Tide will go for their third national title in the last four years.  That is the brand of continuous football that Saban prefers.  A version of this article appears in print on December 7, 2014, on page SP7 of the New York edition with the headline: Using Several Gears, Alabama Cruises Past Missouri for SEC Title. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
No. 1 Alabama displayed a faster pace on offense in a convincing victory over Missouri in the SEC title game.