The Texas A&M football team may not be the title contender that fans were hoping they were, but their Week 6 goal remains as it stood before the season — beat Alabama.
And while a win against Nick Saban’s number-one-ranked ‘Bama squad may seem far-fetched, it is within reach for this year’s Texas A&M football team. That said, the Aggies will have to do three important things if they want to beat the Tide.
Key No. 1: The Texas A&M football team has to generate some semblance of an offense
I know the Texas A&M football team got exposed defensively, at least in the secondary, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Still, I think the Aggies have a really good defense. The lowest scoring output we’ve seen from the Tide was a 31-point outing against Florida.
This also means that if Texas A&M wants to win, they’ll likely have to score 32 or more points — a tall task for one of the worst Power Five offenses in college football.
The Aggies’ most likely course of action in doing so would be to run the ball early and often. The Aggies have shown that the passing game isn’t working, but if they’re able to run the ball effectively, it could split the game right open.
Believe it or not, Texas A&M actually has a better rushing offense than the Tide with 167 yards per game to Alabama’s 163 per contest. This doesn’t really mean much, but it’s a noteworthy advantage that Jimbo Fisher’s squad has.
If they can get that number up and keep the Tide’s number down, the Aggies’ could have Alabama on its heels.
Key No. 2: The Texas A&M football team needs to win the turnover battle by a significant margin
I know the phrasing of the sentence above seems odd — winning the turnover battle against Alabama by a “significant margin” seems unlikely. That said, usually, turnovers are what cause upsets, and the Aggies will be pulling one of the biggest upsets of the season if they beat ‘Bama.
In five games, take a guess at how many times the Aggies have won the turnover battle this season. Twice? Three times?
Try zero times.
Not only has this hurt Texas A&M on the score sheet, but it has hurt the perception of this team. The defense has been on the field more frequently than it should be and the offense has been on the field less frequently than it should be. The Aggies rank 102nd in turnover margin on the season at -3.
If Jimbo Fisher’s team can take care of the football, this will be a much closer game than many fans and experts think. Heck, even if the Aggies keep the turnover margin level, I think this will be a close game. End up +2 on turnovers and you might have an upset on your hands.
Key No. 3: The Texas A&M football team will need some dumb luck to beat Alabama
I’d like to give you some reasoning behind why the Aggies can beat ‘Bama with sheer talent. That said, it seems unlikely that this will happen, especially since Haynes King will still be out against the number one team in the country.
The Aggies can do their best to stop Alabama’s passing attack with their own strong passing defense. That said, it’s hard to have the same confidence through the air defensively that we had before Mississippi State dropped over 400 passing yards on Jimbo Fisher’s head.
Texas A&M’s rushing defense is in the middle of the pack in college football, as is Alabama’s rushing offense, so that should be somewhat of a wash. That said, it’ll be hard to keep the Tide off of the board, especially considering the fact that they scored 52 points last year in this matchup.
To get a leg up, the Aggies will have to have some dumb luck on their side. Dropped passes from Alabama, red zone turnovers — anything to help the Aggies.
But it’s not just dumb luck. The Aggies can help their cause by doing the little things that add up in each game. Strong punts, good kickoff returns, or anything that doesn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet to help their cause.
Again, this isn’t necessarily far-fetched to think that Texas A&M can beat Alabama. They do have some injuries, but the Aggies are still one of the most talented teams in the country with a very strong coaching staff.