Here’s all you need to know about how to watch and listen to Saturday’s matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas A&M Aggies:
The Alabama Crimson Tide is facing the Texas A&M Aggies at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Saturday for their home opener of the 2020 college football season.
Oct 12, 2019; College Station, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher shake hands at the conclusion of the game at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: John Glaser-USA TODAY Sports
This will be the thirteenth time the two teams have faced each other in Alabama football history.
Alabama is 10-2 against the Aggies in series history, and under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide is 7-1 against the Aggies.
Alabama has outscored Texas A&M, 423- 220, and under Saban, Alabama has also outscored the Aggies, 325- 178.
The Aggies haven’t beaten Alabama since 2012, when Johnny Manziel and the Aggies shocked the Tide at home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 29-24.
Here’s all you need to know about Saturday’s matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas A&M Aggies:
Could the Tide cover the spread? Yes and no. Let’s find out why and how.
On Saturday, the Alabama Crimson Tide will face the Texas A&M Aggies in the conference-only home opener in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as the teams meet for the thirteenth time in Alabama football history.
The Aggies, who defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 17-12 are looking to redeem themselves after a rough season opener. Although the Aggies won, they struggled on both sides of the ball, and only finished with 376 total yards of offense. Aggies’ quarterback Kellen Mond finished the game going 17-28 for 189 yards and 1 TD. This game against Alabama will be a statement game to show what they’re capable of this season in the SEC.
As for the Crimson Tide, who beat the Missouri Tigers 38-19, the Tide is looking to win big in their home opener of the season. Alabama showed room for growth and improvement on both sides of the ball, but they showed to be a much more hungry and determined team than they were last season. Mac Jones put on a show going 18-24 for 249 yards and 2 TDs.
Alabama is 10-2 against the Aggies in series history, and under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide is 7-1 against the Aggies.
Alabama has outscored Texas A&M, 423- 220, and under Saban, Alabama has also outscored the Aggies, 325- 178.
Oddsmakers at BetMGM have Alabama listed as an 18-point favorite against the Aggies.
Could the Tide cover the spread?
Yes and no.
Let’s find out why and how.
These are five ways the Crimson Tide could easily cover.
1. Mac Jones and Alabama’s offensive weapons
Sep 26, 2020; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones (10) warms up before the game against the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Mac Jones proved himself worthy of the starting quarterback job against Missouri. Jones went 18 of 24 for 249 yards and 2 TDs, and he didn’t even play the entire game. He showcased his ability to throw accurately, and well as down the field, and finished the game with a 95.2 QBR.
As for the offensive weapons, Jaylen Waddle was the star of the night. He finished with 8 receptions for 134 yards and 2 TDs. DeVonta Smith didn’t record a touchdown, but he did finish the game with 8 carries for 89 yards.
If Alabama plays like they did on Saturday, the Tide won’t have any trouble on offense converting the spread.
Saturday’s game against Alabama will truly make or break for Fisher because it’s beyond time for Fisher to prove himself at Texas A&M.
When Texas A&M hired Jimbo Fisher, they were desperate for change, in more ways than one. At the time, Texas A&M had just endured a 7-5 season under Kevin Sumlin. And during his 5 seasons with the Aggies, Sumlin went 51–26 at A&M, with a 25–23 record in the SEC.
Simply put, the Aggies weren’t satisfied.
When Sumlin was fired on November 26, 2017, many wondered what was next. Who would be the coach to take over the reins and hopefully lead the Aggies back into the spotlight as a winning team in the SEC.
On December 4, 2017, Texas A&M announced Jimbo Fisher as the new head coach. And on paper, it seemed to be a good fit.
Nov 30, 2019; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher yells to an official in the second half against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium. Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
During Fisher’s 8 years at Florida State, he led the Seminoles to three Atlantic Coast Conference championships, six ten-win seasons, and led the Seminoles to win the 2013 national championship.
So when Fisher was hired, excitement and hopes filled College Station. Hopes that maybe, just maybe, the Aggies would become a team in the SEC West to give Alabama a run for their money.
Except, that hasn’t happened. Not yet at least. And Aggies fans are becoming impatient.
Sep 22, 2018; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban prior to the game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
This is the 3rd time the Aggies have faced the Crimson Tide under Jimbo Fisher.
In 2018, Alabama won 45-23.
And in 2019, Alabama once again won, 47-28.
Texas A&M hasn’t beaten Alabama since 2012 when Johnny Manziel and the Aggies shocked the Tide at home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 29-24.
Aggies fans want a real victory to show that Fisher was worth every single penny of his 10 year/$75 million dollar contract.
During his first season, Fisher led the Aggies to an 8–4 record. That season, the Aggies beat the No.7 LSU Tigers. They went on to play, and beat, NC State in the Gator Bowl, 52-13.
But last season was rough for Texas A&M. They went 8-5 and lost to Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl, 24-21.
Simply put, the Aggies want a season where they are not only in the running to contend for the SEC West, but they also want to be a team worth being mentioned for a national title.
And so far, that hasn’t happened for them.
Sep 22, 2018; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban prior to the game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
The last season Texas A&M won more than 9 games was in 2012, the year they beat Alabama, and the first season as a part of the SEC.
A win for the Aggies on Saturday against Alabama would be more than just a win. For the Aggies, it would be a huge statement win for the season after struggling against Vanderbilt in week one.
And for Jimbo Fisher, it would lower the temperature of his seat he’s currently sitting on. It would lower the pressure he has to beat a top-ranked team, especially a team like Alabama.
A loss, well, it would be one more year the Aggies weren’t able to beat the Crimson Tide.
And honestly, it would be one more big game that Aggieland would look at Jimbo Fisher and say, “When will you be able to beat Alabama?”
Fisher spoke with ESPN a few days ago and made it clear, he knows the pressure is on him:
“You’re always still a work in progress, but at the same time, you don’t want a lot of patience. I don’t have a lot of patience. I want to get it here quick and I think it can be — you’ve just gotta fight through those final two steps.
I always say this: When you’re climbing a mountain, it’s always that 10% that is always hardest to get on top of. It really separates. A lot of people get to that point and then that’s what get’s them separated — the psychology disposition, the mental disposition, and the confidence and grit to grind through that last 10 percent and make yourself a champion. That’s hopefully what we’re getting to. We’ve just got to get there, and we’ll find out coming up.”
Simply put, Saturday’s game against Alabama will truly make or break for Fisher because it’s beyond time for him to prove himself at Texas A&M.
Alabama will take on Texas A&M for their second game of the season at home. the oddsmakers at BetMGM have created lines in favore of Alabama
After a Week 1 win over Missouri on the road to kickoff their season, Alabama heads back to Tuscaloosa for their home-opening matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies.
Alabama was unable to cover the spread (-28) last week against Missouri, but the over (55.5) did hit with a combined score of 57, due to a touchdown scored by missouri as time expired.
As Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide get prepeared to face Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies, oddsmakers at BetMGM have created lines for the game.
Here’s what the lines look like for this Saturday’s SEC contest:
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If that happens then Notre Dame will have a pair of empty spaces on their 2020 schedule with two annual rivals either delayed or not playing football at all. So who does Notre Dame potentially replace them with?
Current Scheduled Games Hawaii at San Diego State, Nov. 28
Notre Dame at USC, Nov. 28
This is a no-brainer. Notre Dame avoids a road game – which might matter in a big way; more on that later on this list – and Hawaii has to fly a little further. The two last played in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl – a 49-21 Irish win – and it would be the fourth meeting all-time between the two. Notre Dame is 3-0.
Some of us are old enough to remember Notre Dame finishing the 1991 and 1997 regular seasons on the islands while almost all of us recall the 2008 Hawaii Bowl that ended in victory both on the field and off, as plenty of efforts were spent recruiting Manti Te’o during that time.
How about Hawaii making that trip in late November, though? USC refuses to come north after mid-October, I can’t begin to imagine what a Hawaii football team would look like in South Bend a couple days after Thanksgiving.
The second Fiutak proposal:
Notre Dame at Texas A&M, Oct. 10
Current Scheduled Games Stanford at Notre Dame, Oct. 10
Fresno State at Texas A&M, Oct. 10
This has to happen, but only if Notre Dame buys into the idea of traveling to College Station. No way, no chance that Texas A&M goes to South Bend with a a date in Arlington against Arkansas and a trip to Mississippi State the two weeks before October 10th, and road games at Auburn and South Carolina to follow.
Notre Dame, though, would be coming off of away games against Wake Forest and Wisconsin – playing in Green Bay – and have to travel to Pitt the week after. However, there’s an open date on October 24th to rest up.
It’s one of those dream-type match-ups as adding Texas A&M to the 2020 slate would be quite the bump from what Stanford is expected to be this fall. However, good luck getting Notre Dame to agree to that. The Irish would be going from a September 19 date with Western Michigan until Halloween afternoon against Duke without playing at home. I don’t know what the record is for longest amount of time between true-home games in a season but I’m guessing Jack Swarbrick and Brian Kelly aren’t too interested in chasing or breaking it.
I’ll go out on a limb and guess that one’s not going to be happening unless someone can manage to find a neutral site to host it but even that would be a significant upset to me seeing as it’d still mean a month and a half away from Notre Dame Stadium.
I do like the sudden feel of the “NCAA Football” video game though where you set your own schedule right before the year.
Locked on Longhorns Podcast returns to discuss athletic director Chris Del Conte’s latest comments on playing the Aggies plus football talk.
Patrick and Cami open the show discussing Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte’s comment on playing Texas A&M in the future. Plus an update on Ja’Quinden Jackson as he recovers from partially torn ACL in December and new contracts set to be approved by the Texas Board of Regents.
They continue their depth chart discussion as they focus on the running back position. The NCAA Chief Medical Officer Brian Hainline’s comments about fall sports making a return. Another power five school has announced they are planning on returning to the practice field in the summer, is this another step towards a return to sports?
ESPN polled over 1,000 fans on whether or not they want sports to resume without fans. The results plus how do the hosts feel about it? ESPN has released their FPI (Football Power Index), where is Texas ranked? Mel Kiper Jr has released his top 25 big board for the 2021 NFL Draft, How many Longhorns are in the conversation?
Texas Longhorns’ athletic director Chris Del Conte weighed in on resuming a rivalry with the Aggies of Texas A&M and it wasn’t pretty.
One of the more burning questions surround Texas athletics outside of the COVID-19 situation has to be on rekindling an old rivalry that died in 2011. Recently Missouri and Kansas announced a return to their border war that ended with the Tigers made the jump to the Southeastern conference along with Texas A&M. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte joined Horns 247 where he answered many questions about Texas athletics, one such question involved bringing the A&M-Texas game back to life.
Chris Del Conte on returning rivalries with either Texas A&M, LSU or Arkansas: Our goal is to play non-conference teams that have won championships in the modern era of College Football.
— Taylor Gaspar Estes (@TaylorEstes247) May 5, 2020
The Longhorns did play the LSU Tigers this past season and have a return game in 2020 as they travel to Baton Rouge. As far as the Aggies, well CDC’s answer pretty much summed up why the Longhorns won’t be playing their long-time rivals. The Longhorns football team seems more interested in playing teams that have won a National Championship in the last 80 years.
Texas A&M Aggies Twitter reacts to getting the doors blown off by LSU 50-7
It seems like just yesterday that the LSU Tigers barely scraped by the Texas Longhorns 45-38 in the second game of the season. Fast forward to this Saturday night and LSU is facing off against one of the other Texas teams, but this time it was no contest. The Texas A&M Aggies just got absolutely demolished by LSU 50-7 in a game that was so uncompetitive it would have been boring to watch if not for all the Twitter reactions. The Aggies put up a whopping 169 total yards and one score on the Tigers’ defense after Sam Ehlinger and Co. went for 530 yards and 38 points.
77 million for what? Give me a salary of 100,000 and to chose my own coaches and we have a winning season. Play calling sucks. Defense is eh. Need changes next year fast. Should of just kept @CoachSumlin
