Tag: Aggies

Desmond Howard defends off the wall CFP predictions, explains why Aggies can win it all

Desmond Howard talks about the upcoming 2022 college football season for the Aggies.

It’s Week 1 of the college football season and with that comes everyone’s (and I mean everyone’s) predictions for how the season will shake out. 

No one has taken more heat than College Gameday analyst Desmond Howard after he gave a CFP final four prediction of Texas A&M, Michigan, Baylor and Pittsburgh

In an interview with Mackenzie Salmon on Sports Seriously, Howard wasn’t shy defending his selections. 

“Isn’t it boring to just pick the same old teams every year, especially if you believe that there are other teams out there that could possibly get into the College Football Playoff,” said Howard to Salmon. “A year ago today, Michigan was picked to finish fourth in their division, not their conference, we’re talking about their division. 

So had I said Michigan last year, many people would be like, ‘oh, he’s a homer, blah, blah, blah. yeah, that’s crazy.’ yet Michigan made it.” 

Howard has Michigan losing to Texas A&M in the national title game. He went on to explain to Salmon why this could be the Aggies year: 

“Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, he’s been stacking top recruiting classes… They understand that to beat Alabama, you’re going to have to match strength in the trenches and they believe that they can do that. And then the perimeter takes care of itself. But you first got to match strength in the trenches at the line of scrimmage with Alabama. And I believe that Texas A&M returned a bunch of players on both sides of the ball in the trenches. They believe they can beat Alabama. 

Plus adding fuel to the fire, what Nick Saban said during the offseason. That’s when you circle the wagons and you really want to protect your coach and you go out there and you take your game to another level. I’m expecting that game to be a dog fight when they play.”

I know we are all excited for this weekend but October 8 can’t come soon enough. 

You can watch the full Sports Seriously interview here:

SERIES HISTORY: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Utah State Aggies

Alabama takes on Utah State to open up the 2022 season. The history between these two programs consists of a single game!

For only the second time ever, the Alabama Crimson Tide will face off against the Utah State Aggies. The Tide and Aggies’ have only ever faced off on the field once before.

The lone meeting came in 2004 as Alabama handily swiftly defeated Utah State 48-17.

Just like 2022, the 2004 matchup was also the season opener for the Tide. Alabama heads into the 2022 campaign ranked No. 1 in all of the major polls, led by the reigning Heisman trophy winner, Bryce Young.

Utah State, meanwhile, has one game under their belt already this season. The Aggies took on the UConn Huskies in Week Zero and walked away with a 31-20 victory. According to Tipico Sports, the Crimson Tide are currently 41.5-point favorites.

Can the 2022 Aggies fare better than their 2004 team, or will Nick Saban’s squad get the best of them?

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College football: Notre Dame all-time versus Texas A&M

They’ve met more in the Cotton Bowl than they have all-time on an actual college campus.

Notre Dame and Texas A&M are a couple of universities that pride themselves on quality football but that doesn’t mean the two have met on the gridiron all too often.  In fact, the Irish and Aggies didn’t meet for the first time until New Year’s Day 1988 when they sparred in the Cotton Bowl.

The two would met a pair more times in the New Year’s Day bowl game until they finally had a home-and-home series against one-another starting in 2000.

So how have those handful of games between Notre Dame and Texas A&M gone all-time?

Here is a quick look back at the five football meetings Notre Dame and Texas A&M have had.

Texas A&M pleaded with SEC to discipline Nick Saban, Alabama during NIL feud with Jimbo Fisher

Turns out, Texas A&M ran to the SEC HQ wanting Saban to get in trouble… before Jimbo had his infamous solo press conference.

[autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] has been around the game for quite some time, but he rarely ever has any enemies. Sure, programs and fans don’t like him for various reasons; however, it is extremely rare for a coach to publicly voice their distaste for one of the greatest coaches to ever impact the game.

Texas A&M‘s Jimbo Fisher did just that. Saban spoke at a World Games event in Birmingham, where he talked about Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) and how it has changed the college football landscape. In a brief rant, Saban mentioned specific programs, highlighting the Aggies.

While there is plenty more to the story that included a solo press conference to call someone else a narcissist, a public apology and an awkward meetup in Destin, Florida, a new chapter has been unearthed.

On3 recently sent in an open-records request and uncovered an email sent from the Texas A&M University president, Katherine Banks, and Aggies athletic director, Ross Bjork to Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner.

“We write to express Texas A&M University’s disappointment and outrage at the recent statements made by Alabama University [sic] Head Football Coach Nick Saban that ‘A&M bought every player on their team-made a deal for Name, Image, Likeness,’” Bjork and Banks’ email to Sankey stated.

“Coach Saban’s statement was a blatant violation of SEC bylaws regarding sportsmanship. More significantly, without citing any facts to support his statement, Coach Saban is accusing every, single player in Texas A&M’s recruiting class and current football team of violating NCAA NIL guidelines and Texas state law.

“Coach Saban’s statement is false, beneath the dignity of the SEC, and corrosive to the fabric of sportsmanship in college football as a whole and especially within the SEC. We expect the league to take strong, public action against Coach Saban and the University of Alabama to demonstrate that such unprofessionalism and disrespect for Texas A&M’s student-athletes, coaches, and the university as a whole, will not be tolerated. A public apology from Coach Saban to Coach Fisher, Aggie Football, and Texas A&M University is a good starting point, but the league should also consider monetary and participation penalties against Coach Saban.

“Thank you for your concern and prompt attention to this serious matter.”

Ultimately, both Saban and Fisher were reprimanded by the SEC. Everyone knows, though, that the Oct. 8 matchup between the two programs in Tuscaloosa will only add more fuel to the fire.

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New coach, key transfers propel Texas A&M women into national title contention at NCAA Championship

After a difficult last season, the new-look Aggies are rolling at the national championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This time last year, the Texas A&M women were at home watching the national championship. Twelve months later the Aggies are in third place, well inside the first cut at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship.

Head coach Gerrod Chadwell joked with his team on Saturday that they hadn’t put three good rounds together yet this season. All kidding aside, he was right. Until Sunday.

The Aggies shot even-par as a team in the third round at Grayhawk Golf Club, putting them at 13 over for the championship, four shots back from current runner-up Oregon and 13 back from leading Stanford.

Leaderboards: Team | Individual

“We’re still growing and maturing. But you know, our bad round yesterday wasn’t as bad as they have been in the year where we haven’t won too many tournaments,” explained Chadwell, who’s in his first year at the helm in Aggieland. “But we’ve had a couple of runner-ups, top-three, top-five finishes, so we’ve got the horses, they just got to put it together and finish off rounds.”

Chadwell replaced a legend in the game in Andrea Gaston, who won three national titles with USC before shockingly joining A&M in 2018. Gaston was relieved of her duties as the Aggies’ head coach last April and Chadwell was announced as the fifth head coach in program history on June 8, 2021.

The El Reno, Oklahoma, native spent the last eight seasons as the head coach at Houston, where he was the first head coach in program history. Chadwell led the Cougars to six consecutive NCAA regional berths, earning three American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors after claiming conference titles in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

In 10 regular-season events this year, A&M finished in the top five in nine. The team’s worst finish of the year came at the SEC Championship, where the Aggies finished ninth.

Chadwell’s team was on pace to be only the second team under par from Sunday’s morning wave alongside Stanford, but two late bogeys dropped the squad back to even on the day, a great round considering the scoring averages over the first two days were 76.23 and 75.46.

“If you told me we’d be even par this morning teeing off I’d have taken it,” said Chadwell of his team’s performance. “Probably feel like we gained ground on the field. So any shot today gives you cushion for the top eight. So they’re all important.”

A&M is led by a pair of transfers in junior Jennie Park (TCU) and sophomore Zoe Slaughter (Houston), as well as Hailee Cooper, a former All-American at Texas.

“Our transfers really helped us out, and they like to compete,” said Chadwell on how the team has transformed into a national-title contender after ranking 90th last season. “That’s a good thing.”

But the success in College Station isn’t solely due to the transfer portal. The lineup also includes freshman Adela Cernousek and junior Blanca Fernández García-Poggio, who earned first-team All-SEC honors and leads the squad with a 71.85 average.

As Chadwell said, the Aggies have the horses, and they’re starting to run wild in the desert.

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From Friends to Foes: Photos of Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher together over the years

The two coaches used to share laughs at midfield, but will now have plenty of tension whenever forced to face each other. See pictures of how they used to friendly coexist.

College football fans from around the country, no matter where their fandom resides, will remember May 19, 2022. Near the dead middle of the offseason the sport took over headlines despite games still being months away from kicking off.

On the preceding evening, Alabama head coach Nick Saban discussed the state of college football and specifically named numerous programs that have allegedly utilized the NCAA’s name, image, likeness (NIL) policies in a way that wasn’t originally intended.

Point blank: Saban said that Texas A&M had the nation’s top recruiting class because their top commits were bought.

Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher took great offense to this claim and held a special press conference, where he spent nearly 10 minutes talking about Saban’s accusation, the relationship they once held and how that bridge has been burnt.

The two coaches once had a close bond, or so it seemed. Fisher worked on the offensive staff at LSU under Saban, who was the Tigers head coach at the time.

Numerous cordial interactions have taken place between the coaches. Fisher became the head coach at Florida State and Saban landed the Crimson Tide head coaching gig. After a decade in Tallahassee and seven years as the Seminoles head coach, Fisher made the move to the SEC and joined Texas A&M, where they would face off annually.

Today, it became clear that tension will exist for as long as Saban and Fisher are around. Comments made during the press conference didn’t just defend the Aggies program, but called Saban’s integrity into question.

Here’s a look at how they’ve interacted in the past, while still on friendly terms.

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher fires back at Nick Saban’s NIL remarks

The NCAA’s first heavyweight NIL fight.

Aggies football coach Jimbo Fisher wasted zero time responding to accusations made by Alabama’s Nick Saban that Texas A&M bought players under the guise of NIL deals.

“It’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way or things don’t go his way,” Fisher said. “The narcissistic in (Saban) doesn’t allow those things to happen. It’s ridiculous, when he’s not on top.”

The crux of this came about when Saban made comments Wednesday at an event promoting the World Games 2022 Birmingham, where he questioned the Aggies’ 2022 recruiting class—which ranked No. 1 according to the 247Sports Composite.

“We were second in recruiting last year,” Saban said. “A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it.”

Saban’s comments were similar to the ones directed at Deion Sanders and Jackson State, a program that made major headlines after top recruit Travis Hunter flipped from Florida State to the HBCU school.

As expected, Sanders was quick to voice a rebuttal via social media.

Hunter also released a statement, which further shaded Saban’s allegations and backed the 5-star’s choice to head to JSU.

“I am making this decision so that I can light the way for others to follow, make it a little easier for the next player to recognize that (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) may be everything you want and more: an exciting college experience, a vital community, and a life-changing place to play football.”

So, what’s next?

In the slow days of early summer in the college football world and general sports news cycle, probably a lot.

And while we all await to see if Saban and Sanders will star in another Aflac commercial—both have the brand in their endorsement portfolio—most of the offseason attention will now be directed at Fisher, the first former Saban assistant to defeat the coach.

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Everything Nick Saban said about NIL that has the nation in a stir

Alabama HC Nick Saban did not hold back when calling out numerous programs by name for buying players on the recruiting trail.

Texas A&M posted the best recruiting class of all-time in the 2022 cycle, which turned many heads to say the least. Outside of the 2019 class when they finished fourth, they haven’t even finished in the top five in the 21st century! However, the new name image and likeness (NIL) deals have completely changed the game.

At an event with local business leaders in Birmingham Wednesday night, Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban took a couple shots at Jimbo Fisher and his Aggies.

Last season, 25 Alabama players earned NIL revenue that came out to about $3 million total, and added that the Tide went about it “the right way.”

Saban’s comments have spread like wildfire overnight. Now, other head coaches are responding via Twitter or press conferences.

Postgame social media buzz following Tennessee winning SEC Tournament

A look at postgame social media buzz following Tennessee winning the SEC Tournament.

The 2022 Southeastern Conference Tournament took place March 9-13 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Tennessee (26-7) was a No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament and earned a double bye.

The Vols defeated No. 8 seed Texas A&M, 65-50, Sunday in the championship game. Tennessee’s 2022 SEC Tournament championship is the program’s first since 1979.

Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament is slated for 6 p.m. EDT and CBS will televise the bracket reveal.

Tennessee was victorious against Kentucky, 69-62, in the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday.

Tennessee defeated 10th-seeded Mississippi State (18-15), 72-59, in the quarterfinals Friday.

Following Tennessee’s victory against the Aggies in the SEC Tournament championship game, Vols Wire looks at postgame social media buzz. Postgame social media buzz is listed below.

SEC Tournament championship: Tennessee-Texas A&M pregame social media buzz

SEC Tournament championship game: A look at Tennessee-Texas A&M pregame social media buzz

The 2022 Southeastern Conference Tournament is taking place March 9-13 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Tennessee (25-7) is a No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament and earned a double bye.

Tennessee will play Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament championship game Sunday. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. EDT and ESPN will televise the championship matchup.

The Vols have not won the SEC Tournament championship since 1979.

Tennessee defeated Kentucky, 69-62, in the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday.

The Vols defeated 10th-seeded Mississippi State (18-15), 72-59, in the quarterfinals Friday.

Ahead of Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game, Vols Wire looks at pregame social media buzz. Pregame social media buzz is listed below.