Alabama Football: Tide and Aggies rivalry that isn’t
By Ronald Evans
Until the Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban dust-up a few months ago, Alabama Football and the Texas A&M Aggies were not rivals. The simple reason being the two teams have only played each other 14 times and the Tide has dominated with 11 wins.
The three A&M wins came in 1968, 2012 and last season. All three were upsets. An Alabama football head coach celebrated after one of the Crimson Tide losses. There is more on that below.
Prior to 2012 and even more so, before Jimbo Fisher’s personal attack on the character of Nick Saban, the Tide and the Aggies were friendly competitors. Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, Gene Stallings and several other head coaches and assistant coaches had tenures in College Station and Tuscaloosa.
Younger Alabama football and Texas A&M fans may not understand it, but going back to Bryant’s time as the Aggies head coach, when Gene Stallings played for him, there has been a special bond between the two programs. The 2012 reunion in Tuscaloosa celebrating Bryant’s Junction Boys was a special event.
For those who don’t know the ‘Junction’ story well, check out the video below of Gene Stallings talking about playing for Bryant.
On Saturday night, I’ll enthusiastically root for the Crimson Tide to beat the Aggies by many touchdowns – the more the better. But I am unwilling to let one fast-talking huckster tarnish the history between the two programs. Of course, I agree with Nick Saban’s complaints about how the Aggies have added top recruits. But paying players before their performance creates actual value does not seem to be working for the Aggies.