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Alabama Football: 2019 season week seven preview Texas A&M

By Jonathan Waldrop

COLLEGE STATION, TX - AUGUST 30: Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher celebrates with his team after defeating the Northwestern State Demons in a football game at Kyle Field on August 30, 2018 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
COLLEGE STATION, TX - AUGUST 30: Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher celebrates with his team after defeating the Northwestern State Demons in a football game at Kyle Field on August 30, 2018 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /
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In what should be its first true test of the season, Alabama football travels to College Station to take on Jimbo Fisher’s second Texas A&M team.

Let’s get this out of the way; Jimbo Fisher worked for Alabama football’s Nick Saban. He’s among the faceless former assistants who’s gone up against “the old man” and didn’t make it out the victor. To this point, Fisher is 0-2 against Saban, losing by a combined score of 69-30. Honestly, aside from Kirby Smart, he’s the one former assistant who’s given Saban teams the most trouble and 2019 could be the tipping point.

Ever since the Aggies came to Tuscaloosa in 2012 (its first season in the SEC) with quarterback Johnny Manziel and upset the Tide, it’s my belief that Alabama football has done its level best to make up for a five-point loss every subsequent season against A&M.

They eked out a victory in College Station the next season against Manziel and company, but still allowed the Aggies to accrue over 600 yards of offense. (Imagine how a pre-Kiffin Tide offense was able to somehow outperform that metric.)

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The 2014 game in Tuscaloosa is where Saban finally had enough of the “A&M mystique” with an absolute mauling of the Aggies to the tune of 59-0. Very little has changed since this day, with the exception of a paltry showing in 2017 that left a frustrated Saban screaming “rat poison”.

Last year’s game (Jimbo’s first as head coach of the Aggies) in Tuscaloosa, was Alabama football’s first true test of the season, meaning a sieve-like Tide defense gave up 23 points and Mike Elko’s A&M defense surrendered only 45. (Note: Over the first three games, the 2018 Tide offense was averaging 56.6 points.)

Now that Jimbo’s second Texas A&M team gets to host the Tide in 2019, it could mark the first real challenge for Saban’s squad.

Fisher’s first full recruiting class in 2019 was an absolute doozy in comparison to the few before it. In fact, had they not lost out on two four-stars to Alabama football, they might’ve finished second or third in the final 247Sports Composite ranking. (Now that five-star Bru McCoy has transferred from Texas, the Aggies probably should be third.)

For the 2019 cycle, Fisher and staff acquired the top tight end, one of the top two defensive tackles, one of the top three offensive tackles and two of the top ten safeties in the country.

While A&M has to travel to Clemson, Georgia and LSU in 2019, they do get the Crimson Tide at home and this mixed with the return of quarterback Kellen Mond, the Aggies’ top four wideouts and both offensive tackles from last season, could make things a little tough for Alabama football.

What the Aggies’ offense is missing from 2018 is All-American tight end Jace Sternberger (48 receptions, 832 yards, 10 touchdowns), starting running back Trayveon Williams (1,760 yards, 18 touchdowns) and center Erik McCoy.

Defensively, it’s even more spotty, despite the return of defensive tackle Justin Madubuike and defensive backs Charles Oliver and Debione Renfro. They have few linebackers with meaningful experience heading into the season and they lost three starters on the offensive line.

Conventional wisdom says that a team coached by Jimbo Fisher will be markedly better in its second season, but the Aggies’ 2019 schedule and the losses of key players, make one think that there could be a bit of slide.

If Mond plays out of his mind this season, gets help from his stable of returning wideouts and the Aggies figure out who will play on the interior of the offensive line, Texas A&M could make a good showing in 2019.

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Even if Mond does play sensationally against the Tide, it won’t be enough. No way the Aggies outmaneuver an Alabama team that returns Tua, its generational stable of wideouts and an angry defense.

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