Texas A&M Football: Alabama looks vulnerable at the perfect time

The Texas A&M football team revived a season that was dead in the water when they defeated the then-top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the sixth week of the season. ‘Bama hadn’t lost since the Iron Bowl in the 2019 season, so this was a significant game for the Aggies.

Unfortunately, A&M’s two early SEC losses are still an ugly stain on their resume. Without another Alabama loss, Jimbo Fisher’s team has no chance at the SEC Championship Game and no chance at the College Football Playoff. The Aggies can help their cause with a win against Ole Miss, but they’ll need some help.

In short, the Aggies do not control their own destiny — the Auburn Tigers do. I’ll explain that a bit later.

The Texas A&M football team will benefit from a vulnerable-looking Alabama football team

Alabama is ranked second by the College Football Playoff committee. There’s no other way of putting it — this ranking is a disgrace to the entire system as we know it. The Tide have a loss on the year and their only win over a ranked team came against Ole Miss, who is ranked 15th.

The Tide have had a few extremely dominant wins on the year, but they’ve had a tougher season than we’re accustomed to seeing out of Nick Saban-coached teams. Specifically, ‘Bama has won two close games against subpar teams in Florida and LSU.

When it happened, the Florida win actually looked like a good one. Florida was the 11th-ranked team in the country but has completely fallen off since that point in time. The Gators are now 4-5 and sit at fifth in the SEC East. To make this look even worse, the Gators outgained the Tide by 109 yards.

The LSU win, on the other hand, never looked good. This came just last week in a contest that, by all means, should have been a blowout. The Tide would win, but this game was neck-and-neck for 60 minutes and the 4-5 Tigers were a single play away from upsetting Alabama.

I will continue to complain about ‘Bama’s ranking in the College Football Playoff Rankings, but at the end of the day, I believe that this will play itself out. Sure, Auburn has three losses on the year, but their losses have all come against ranked teams in Penn State, Georgia, and Texas A&M. They’re a solid football team.

In fact, this Auburn football team looks like a spitting image of every team that has ever knocked off Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Three losses and nothing to lose in the most important game of the year.

Alabama, on the other hand, is clearly vulnerable. The CFP committee can continue to rank them too high based on their past achievements — it is what it is. When Auburn comes knocking in the last game of the year, Alabama will not be ready. The game is in Auburn, Alabama, which gives the Tigers another leg up.

‘Bama has been surviving all year long, I think they’ll finally get the reality check that everyone’s been waiting for in the Iron Bowl.