Texas A&M Football: Aggies’ report card in win vs. Alabama
Texas A&M football report card, Week 6 vs. Alabama
Quarterback: A+
I don’t care that Zach Calzada threw an interception — he gets a perfect grade on the night. The same quarterback who fans were calling to be benched in the past few weeks just had a game that made him look like a Heisman contender. Heck, I’d make the argument that he outplayed the Heisman frontrunner opposite him in Bryce Young.
On the night, Calzada threw for 285 yards with three touchdown passes. He did have an interception, but it came on a clear miscommunication between himself and Ainias Smith on a broken play. It could have just been a really bad throw, but it’s one of those plays that seemed too bad not to be a miscommunication.
That said, the most important part of Calzada’s game was his toughness, both mentally and physically. Allow me to explain.
For starters, Calzada came into this game with no reason to have any sort of confidence. Here’s a video of him after a heartbreaking loss against Mississippi State that gave A&M two losses on the year.
Football is a sport. It’s a sport we put a lot of passion, money, and emotions into but these are college kids on the field at the end of the day. Although we are not happy with our record, we do and will always have love and respect for #10. pic.twitter.com/ISCjrWrSUL
— Barstool Texas A&M (@BarstoolTexasAM) October 3, 2021
Anybody who saw this video was rooting for Calzada — and Calzada would deliver. He played one of the most emotion-driven games of football I’ve ever seen in my life. With the odds stacked against him, he took down a team that hadn’t lost in 19 games.
Even after a leg injury in the fourth quarter that left him hobbling over to the sideline, Calzada got back up and re-entered the football game, rushing for a first down shortly after. The kid showed heart and there’s no way not to have deep respect for him after this one.