Texas A&M Football: 3 bold predictions for upset-hungry Aggies vs. Alabama

Bold Prediction No. 2: Alabama will struggle in the red zone

It pains me to bring this up so frequently, but the Texas A&M football team’s defense has been somewhat exposed in the past couple of weeks. After a dominating start to the year, the Aggies were dominated in a couple of areas that they had excelled in early in the year.

One of those areas is passing defense, where the Aggies were gashed by the Mississippi State Bulldogs last week for 408 yards through the air. It was a depressing performance but doesn’t discredit what the unit does as a whole.

In fact, Texas A&M is still one of the best college football teams in the country in one of the most important defensive categories in the game.

Red zone defense.

On the season, opposing teams have reached the red zone against Mike Elko’s defense 13 times. Out of those 13 attempts, they have only managed to put points on the board eight times, which is the 6th-best stop percentage in the country.

For reference, the Crimson Tide allowed 84.6% of opposing teams’ trips into the red zone to be converted into touchdowns or field goals. This lands them at the 78th spot in the country, which could be a soft spot that helps Texas A&M.

Alabama’s offense, on the other hand, ranks 29th in red zone efficiency. This is a decent number, but nothing special. If the Aggies can limit Alabama in the red zone, they could have a good night defensively.