For the first time since joining the SEC, Texas A&M will head into Alabama week undefeated. This will be the fifth matchup between the two teams as conference foes, kicking off at 2:30pm on CBS as the Game of the Week.
In 2012, Texas A&M joined the SEC. Many expected an absolute flop, but a redshirt freshman quarterback had other ideas. Johnny “Football” Manziel and the Aggie offense were electric throughout the inaugural season and that trend continued during the teams stop in Tuscaloosa.
The Crimson Tide, winners of 13 straight games and defending national champions, underestimated the Aggies immensely and were not prepared for the game that lay ahead on November 10, 2012. The Aggies went on to win 29-24 behind a red-hot offense that scored touchdowns on each of their first three scoring drives and a game-sealing interception at the goal line by Deshazor Everett to stop a crimson comeback. The Aggies had pulled off the biggest upset of the season handing the Crimson Tide their only loss of the year, capturing “lightning in a bottle in Tuscaloosa” according to announcer Dave South.
Since that fateful November day, the Aggies haven’t been able to replicate that lightning moment. The team was close in 2013, losing a high scoring affair 49-42 at Kyle Field. Alabama gave up a school record 628 to Johnny Manziel and the Aggies, but came out the winners in the end. The difference in that game was a crucial pick six for the Tide. That one stung just a bit, but nothing like what would happen the following year in Tuscaloosa.
In 2014 came the game that no Aggie likes to talk about and every Alabama fan loves to remind them of: the 59-0 crumbling of the Aggies. This was Alabama’s biggest shutout victory since a 62-0 in 1991 against Tulane and A&M’s worse shutout loss since Oklahoma beat them 77-0 in 2003. Texas A&M had a total of 31 rush yards for the game and the Aggie defense had shown that it was less than stellar.
In October of 2015, the Crimson Tide returned to Kyle Field to face the Texas A&M Aggies. While not as bad as the previous year, this game stung just as much for every Aggie fan in attendance as the maroon and white came out the losers, 41-23 behind three pick-sixes thrown by quarterback Kyle Allen.
On October 22, the Aggies (6-0) will once again head to Tuscaloosa hoping to break a four-year losing streak against the formidable Crimson Tide.
