Forget about Alabama. The Tide, with the most talent man for man in college football, would eventually get it right.
It’s time to zero in on Texas A&M, which for all the hype and hoopla of the Johnny Manziel years looks a whole lot like the Texas A&M that left the Big 12 not so long ago.
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A jumbled mess on offense and a complete disaster on defense after a 59-0 loss at Alabama.
Here’s a team that two years ago made a defining statement in this game, shocking Alabama and setting in motion a rush of good fortune that positively impacted the program everywhere — except on the field.
Because when you really dig down on Texas A&M; when you really look at its win over Alabama in 2012 through the optics of the Tide playing a heavyweight game seven days earlier against eventual SEC champion LSU, what have the Aggies really accomplished in the SEC?
Here’s a team that, since the win over Alabama in 2012, is 2-7 vs. ranked teams and has finished third and fourth in the West Division. Since the Alabama win, the Aggies are 9-7 vs. Power 5 opponents and have given up at least 30 points nine times.
A program that had one player win the Heisman Trophy and another trademark a nickname (probably don’t have to worry about that Trill thing, fellas). A program that gave a coach a contract extension worth $5 million a year, and the only thing to show for it is a massive, $400 million stadium expansion and an association with the SEC (and the SEC Network) that it can rub in the face of rival Texas.
At this point, after 2 1/2 seasons in the SEC, the only true thing we know about Texas A&M is its ability to spend money. Other than that, it’s a weekly crapshoot.
As well as Alabama played Saturday, there’s no way the Tide should have been up 52-0 with nine minutes to play in the third quarter. The Aggies quit, plain and simple.
You can argue it was A&M’s third straight game against three of the best teams in the nation, much less the SEC (Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Alabama). But there’s no excuse for missed tackles and blown assignments on defense, and zero effort on the line of scrimmage on offense.
The reality is, Texas A&M’s best win this season is against a highly overrated South Carolina team, which is sort of like its best win in 2013 — a come-from-behind win over Duke. And what, you ask, did the Aggies do in 2012 other than the program-defining win over Alabama?
They beat Oklahoma in a bowl game.
They could have stayed in the Big 12 for that.