Alabama vs Texas A&M: Phil Steele Thinks The Tide Will Roll Big

ESPN college football expert Phil Steele appeared on ESPN’s The Championship Drive and shared his thoughts on what he thinks the outcome of the Alabama vs Texas A&M game will have.

“Coming into the year, I did not have Texas A&M ranked in my top 25 and after they beat South Carolina, I was one of the few people in the country who did not put Texas A&M in my top six of the teams for the national championship. I needed to see more out of them and one game is never going to tell me that a team is completely different than what I thought they were at the start of the year.”

Steele added that the Tide was a bad situation last week, after having to play a tough Ole Miss team as well as a tough Arkansas team coming off of the bye week with hunger for the first SEC win in a while. He also specifically mentions Arkansas’ game against the Aggie where they did hold them for much of the game until the end.

More from Bama Hammer

Below is an excerpt from a BamaOnline Bolt of Steele’s comments:

"“Now, I heard some folks talking about Alabama, like, ‘ah well that Mississippi win over Alabama- they’re not really a legitimate title contender.’ I think they are. They only had 227 yards last week. I sort of scratch my head a little bit. This is the same Alabama team that is averaging 600 yards per game at home this year, put up 672 yards on Florida. Just two weeks ago, against that Mississippi defense, which I think is one of the best in the country- how about 396 yards? They had a bad game (against Arkansas).”“I think Blake Sims plays better at home. He’s still got Yeldon and Henry. They’ve still got a guy at wide receiver- Amari…oh, Cooper, that’s it. One of the best wide receivers in the country. I think you’ll see a completely different Alabama offense this week. Especially against an A&M defense that is giving up 5.2 yards per carry. Think about that. Run the ball twice, you’ve got a first down every time against Texas A&M. A&M’s defense is still not up to the SEC standards. They’re struggling a little bit there.”"

The offense of Texas A&M hasn’t been putting up as many points as they normally do. In the past three games, they have had 17-points or less in the fourth quarter. He mentions the yardage and the points the Aggies have put up on the Tide over the past two seasons and says the Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart will be looking to shut them down and says if the defenses of Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Ole Miss can hold the Aggies to an average of two touchdowns through three and a half quarters, he believes Smart will do well, too.

Steele predicts the Tide to win by at least two touchdowns so that kind of goes along with my line of thinking. If we can get the offense going, especially the run game, I believe the Aggies will have a tough time on defense to stop us.

Kickoff is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT from Tuscaloosa with TV coverage from CBS.

Home/Alabama Crimson Tide News