Alabama wins ugly against Texas A&M, 27-19: 3 takeaways
Here’s what we learned from the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide taking down the Texas A&M Aggies 27-19 on Saturday night at Kyle Field.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Alabama Crimson Tide moved to 6-0 on the season with a sloppy 27-19 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night in College Station.
Texas A&M wasn’t intimidated early on and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after forcing an Alabama three-and-out. Some teams would have let the raucous Kyle Field crowd get into the game after an early confidence boost, but Alabama running back Damien Harris had other ideas and put the Crimson Tide up 7-3 13 seconds later on a 75-yard touchdown run.
The long run could have singled the beginning of a blowout, but Texas A&M impressively didn’t let the Crimson Tide get rolling and held Alabama over the rest of the first quarter. As always, the Alabama defense looked untouchable, and forced a fumble to set up a Jalen Hurts touchdown at the 3:06 mark of the second to put Alabama up 17-3.
Texas A&M looked to be in danger of getting run off the field after Alabama marched down the field on its opening drive of the second half. The Aggies deserve plenty of credit for not folding, and made things at least interesting with a late third quarter touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-10.
Kevin Sumlin’s team drew a little closer midway through the fourth by blocking a punt out of the end zone for a safety. A lengthy Crimson Tide drive featuring a heavy dose of Bo Scarbrough resulted in a field goal to all but ice the game with just over two minutes to go, although Texas A&M made the final scoreline of 27-19 look a little more respectable with a Kellen Mond touchdown run in the dying seconds.
The ugly victory may say more about the Aggies than Alabama, although there are a handful of takeaways following Saturday night’s action.
Three Takeaways
Jalen Hurts’ dual-threat ability can make up for shaky performances elsewhere
While facing intense pressure with the rest of the offense struggling, Hurts let his best ability shine to key the win over Texas A&M.
The Aggies managed to get solid pass rush all game long to make life difficult on the Alabama offense, which managed just 355 total yards. Hurts responded by racking up 56 yards and a touchdown on 14 total rushes will avoiding a number of sacks.
Alabama needed every one of those rushes, as its receivers struggled and the backfield did little outside of Harris’ long touchdown run. The Crimson Tide’s special teams unit also surrendered a safety on a punt and missed a field goal, so the result could have been much different if Hurts had taken even one or two more sacks.
Whether that offense will be enough to beat better teams later on the schedule is yet to be determined, but Hurts has to be considered arguably the most dangerous scrambler in the nation outside of Lamar Jackson.
Texas A&M’s defense can save Kevin Sumlin
The sky might not be falling in College Station after all, as the Aggies have generally looked pretty decent since the first two weeks of the season.
Despite missing star cornerback Donovan Wilson, Texas A&M managed to hold the Alabama offense for nearly the entire game after Harris reeled off the 75-yard score in the first. The Aggies enjoyed a consistent pass rush, limited the Alabama running backs enough to win the game, and completely shut down every receiver outside of Calvin Ridley.
Texas A&M has something to build around with freshman quarterback Kellen Mond and a rapidly improving defensive unit. If the Aggies’ defense plays that well over the rest of the season, they will have a good chance against every team remaining on their schedule other than Auburn.
The Crimson Tide might be human after all
Saturday’s result should not knock the Crimson Tide out of the top spot in the AP Poll by any means, but Nick Saban’s team looks every so slightly more vulnerable following an inhuman start to the year.
The Crimson Tide came in having won each of its five previous games by at least 18 points, including an incredible 125-3 scoring margin over the first two games of SEC play against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss. While Alabama’s defense was excellent during Saturday’s win, there are plenty of questions on the offense and special teams.
Alabama could use a true No. 2 receiver threat behind Ridley, as senior Robert Foster had a really rough game on Saturday night. Hurts has also struggled a bit to pass the ball downfield against better competition in his young career, and Alabama’s offensive line is not quite up to its usual standards in 2017.
Nick Saban can certainly figure things out in a hurry, but the Crimson Tide could be challenged by Auburn and potentially Georgia over the coming months as things currently stand.