Alabama Football: Tide with more grit than the Aggies could handle

There were multiples of ‘too much’ in the Alabama Football 26-20 victory over Texas A&M. For the Crimson Tide there was too much with 14 penalties for 99 yards. Nine of the 14 were pre-snap penalties, that too often shackled the Alabama offense. One of the other five Crimson Tide penalties took away a Bama special teams touchdown.

On the 18 carries by Alabama running backs, there was ‘too much’ winning the line of scrimmage by Texas A&M. The 18 Crimson Tide runs gained a meager 54 yards.

Alabama was not the only team on the short side of too much. For the Aggies, there was too much (and unexpected)  passing success by Jalen Milroe who produced 324 yards and three touchdowns. An A&M game plan to make Jalen Milroe win the game with his arm failed.

With only a few miscues, the Alabama football defense was tremendous. The longest A&M run was nine yards and Aggies running backs as a group gained 70 yards on 23 carries. Though A&M has one of the best wide receiver groups in college football, Texas A&M completed only 14 passes. With the Tide’s consistent pass-rushing pressure, producing two sacks and seven quarterback hurries, the Aggies’ passing attack could not match the Crimson Tide’s. The Aggies were billed as one of the nation’s top defenses going into the game. ‘Too much’ Alabama football defense stole the Aggies’ thunder.

The ‘too much’ that more than anything else doomed the Aggies was Alabama had too much grit to lose. After the game, Nick Saban said,

"I could never be more proud of a group of guys for the way we competed in the game, the way we competed in the second half."

Alabama Football Had Too Much Grit

On Saturday afternoon in College Station, Alabama was a team not to be denied of victory. Saban was disappointed but philosophical about the Tide’s mistakes, all of which Saban said said are fixable. Reflecting on his coaching career, Saban said,

"This might be the record game for me in terms of messing up and still winning."

Nick was not the only happy Saban after the game as can be seen in the video below.

As everyone knows, Miss Terry is wonderful and what we should all realize is that Terrion Arnold is a tremendous football player. Arnold was also too much for the Aggies, especially on a key play when he knocked the ball away from Aggie Ainias Smith twice to prevent a completion.

It was an important win for the Crimson Tide. In the next two weeks, Arkansas and Tennessee will fight hard in Bryant-Denny, but an improved Crimson Tide will have a big home-field advantage.