Texas A&M has maybe their toughest road test yet this season today when they take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in Bryant-Denny Stadium. This is the Aggies' first trip to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama since the infamous 2022 season— when A&M finished 5-7, but came within inches of knocking off the then-top-ranked Tide.
Unfortunately, this season has played out about as disappointingly as that 2022 campaign thus far— and for many, it's hard to envision the Aggies keeping it close in this one. However, the line for this game has shrunk slightly since it opened at 15.5 in favor of Alabama— now, it's just under two touchdowns, with the Tide being favored by 13.5 on Fanduel as of this morning.
That's not a major change, of course, but it's notable that things are moving in the direction of the Aggies at this point. With eight hours or so to go until kickoff at the time of writing, it will be interesting to see if there is a late swing one way or the other.
Final odds and predictions: Line slowly moving towards Texas A&M, but can they knock off the Tide?
It would be unprecedented this season for the Aggies to be competitive on the road, however— the Aggies have scored six points in each of their last two road games, while allowing 35 and 27 to their opponents. The defense in both games started off okay before eventually getting completely worn down— thanks no doubt to an offense that often couldn't keep the ball for more than one set of downs at a time.
Even so, the Aggies may have unlocked a few things last week against The Citadel. This isn't a case of a team suddenly looking good just because they are physically dominating lesser competition; most of the Aggies' problems are mental, and they stayed clean of most of those issues in last week's game, which is a positive for sure.
It's going to be a completely different ball game in this hostile road environment, obviously, but this is also a demotivated Alabama fanbase after losing two games straight to rivals. The Tide have looked extremely mortal in these past two weeks, and as the injury report shows, they're physically beaten up at this point.
What's more, there is a clear road map that has been laid out over the past two weeks on how to take down the Tide. Whether the Aggies can execute on it is a thorny question for A&M fans, but the coaches can see on tape how they need to attack this Crimson Tide team if they want to take them down.
Make no mistake: coming into this game, the Tide are the better team, and it's not been particularly close. They've earned the hype they have coming into this one and are still firmly in the Playoff hunt.
Even so, for as badly as the Aggies have played this season, this is still one of the most talented rosters in the country— and one that can indeed match up with Alabama when it comes to pure skill. It's about unlocking that, and I think, behind a strong run game that involves Marcel Reed pulling it down and picking up some clutch yards, the Aggies will be able to do just that.
Is it enough? In all likelihood, no. There's a reason this line, though it's shrinking, is still so large. But I think we see enough from the Aggies in this one to give fans a lot of hope heading down the stretch of the season. Give me the Tide winning a close one here, 27-24— disappointing for the Aggies, but hopefully something that can springboard them into a tough final four games with some momentum.
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