In a primetime rematch, no. 1 Alabama Football (6-0,3-0 SEC) narrowly escaped with a victory over Texas A&M (3-3, 1-2) by winning 24-20. Every college football fan circled October 8th on their calendar after Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher gushed gasoline on this newly formed rivalry.
His raging May 19th press conference after Alabama football head coach Nick Saban insinuated Texas A&M financed their recruiting class. Furthermore, could the mentor and protege’s broken relationship recover? Once Fisher spat these heinous words, college football turned upside down,
"“We never bought anybody, no rules were broken….We’ve never done anything that goes against the laws of the state of Texas. Some people think they’re God. Well, go dig into his past or ask anyone who’s coached with him, find out what he does and how he does it. Go dig into how ‘God’ did his deal. You may find out about a lot of things you don’t want to know.”"
Since A&M struggled after a top-ten preseason ranking, the game’s top billing vanished. For this reason, avenging last season’s loss became the second storyline for this game. With a sellout of 100,077, Bryant Denny Stadium provided an electric atmosphere for Alabama to get their pound of flesh.
Both teams were without their starting quarterbacks as Aggies’ Max Johnson sat out with a broken hand, and Bryce Young missed the game with a minor shoulder injury. Backup quarterbacks Haynes King and Jalen Milroe would lead the respective teams into battle.
The game didn’t reach the blowout Alabama fans wanted but instead became the game college football fans deserved as the Crimson Tide survived by King overthrowing the pigskin on the game’s final play.
Next are the studs and duds.