Alabama Football: Studs and Duds in Loss to Aggies
By Ronald Moody
No.1 Alabama Football (5-1, 2-1 SEC) deserved to lose against Texas A&M (4-2, 1-2 SEC). 680 days ago, Alabama lost to rival Auburn 48-45 and was left out the College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide went on an explosive run of 19 straight victories. Regardless, all good things must come to an end, whether it was 100 straight victories over unranked opponents or head coach Nick Saban’s 24 game winning streak over his former assistants.
The recipe for disaster started early with Texas A&M second-string quarterback, Zach Calzada playing like the second coming of Aggies legend Johnny Manziel and blitz-krieging the Crimson Tide defense with insane accuracy.
Simply put, the Aggies simply beat the Tide in all three phases of the game.
Losing to Texas A&M will not slow down Alabama. Nick Saban has been here before and knows how to use the loss for motivation. During his fifteen year stretch, there have only been two undefeated seasons during Saban’s tenure (2009 and 2020). However, he has still won six national championships.
Head coach Nick Saban once shared how talking about failure is one of his favorite team messages,
"“I don’t think anybody can really be a great competitor if they don’t have resiliency, if they don’t have the ability to overcome adversity. I think some of the best opportunities that we all have to learn is really from our failings. One of the things that I always say is ‘Don’t ever waste a failing.'”"
Defeat is humbling.
For the remainder of the season, the Crimson Tide will let us know how much Saban’s quote has impacted the team.
Next are the studs and duds from last night’s contest.