Texas A&M Football vs. Alabama: Instant Reaction

Reacting to Texas A&M Football falling 26-20 to the Tide

This game for Texas A&M football was another tale of two halves. The first half looked a lot like how I expected the game to go, but after each team came out of the break, things flipped. Notably, the pressure for the Aggies had all but gone; four sacks in the first half and constant harassment of Milroe turned into the Tide’s signal caller having all the time in the world to pick apart the Aggie secondary. The adjustment for the Tide was clear at this point; take underneath, quick passes in order to move up and down the field. Though it would have been a strategy that Durkin and company would have gladly taken before the game, as Milroe had not shown an ability to consistently operate in the underneath passing game, it worked just enough for the Tide in the third quarter to put Bama up ahead of Texas A&M football.

The offensive success that the Aggies had been experiencing in the first half of the game had all but abandoned them at this point. Johnson, rather than Milroe, was the one experiencing heavy pressure, and he was unable to deal with it as well as you might have hoped. The safety was an obvious example, but the defense began to step up after that point. Ainias’s catch and run was almost the only positive gain in the game after the half.

Really, this one came down to missed opportunities for Texas A&M football. Wasting that first scoring opportunity and having the field goal blocked came back to haunt the Aggies in such a close game. Conversely, the Tide did convert on their opportunities: a big storyline I had circled was red zone success for the Tide, as they had had such difficulty getting touchdowns inside the 20 this year. The Tide were 2 for 2 today, both coming on Milroe passes to Burton. Those are the plays you have to make on offense or prevent on defense if you’re a true contender.

We’ll have more as the afternoon and evening move on, continuing to react to this game and where Texas A&M football goes from here.