San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Sooners fall again
Iowa State comes from behind, drops Oklahoma to 1-2.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Texas A&M senior linebacker Buddy Johnson described the Aggies as getting “carried away” in trying to slow the Alabama offense.
But A&M defensive backs were hardly close enough to Crimson Tide receivers to even try to hitch a ride in No. 2 Alabama’s 52-24 mashing of the No. 13 Aggies on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
A&M has an undesirable measuring stick for the 2020 season, and the early result is the Aggies still have miles to go to compete for an SEC title under third-year coach Jimbo Fisher.
A&M briefly hung around with Alabama, creating a false sense among its fans that perhaps the Aggies had “arrived” under Fisher. But the Crimson Tide soon served as a 2020 dream crusher.
Alabama’s home was only 20 percent full because of the COVID-pandemic, but ultimately it didn’t matter in the Crimson Tide’s eighth consecutive victory over the Aggies.
“They did a great job of hitting big plays,” Fisher said of Alabama’s lethal offense that showcases receiver and former Episcopal High standout Jaylen Waddle. “We’ve got to stop the big plays.… We cannot give up the big plays on defense like we did.”
The game was tied 14-14 early in the second quarter before the Crimson Tide nearly quadrupled the Aggies 38-10the rest of theway, blasting past A&M’s heavy-legged secondary multiple times.
“We made a lot of big plays on offense so we didn’t have the ball very long, but theway they played us we have to utilize the skills guys we have and take shots,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “Theywere
up there stopping the run, and their safe ties were very aggressive. I thought we did a good job of adjusting to that in the game, and making some big plays.”
Among their many highlights, the Crimson Tide (2-0) scored on pass plays of 78 and 63 yards to John Metchie and 87 yards to Waddle, all from perpetually on-target quarterback Mac Jones.
Saban, who’s won five national titles with the Crimson Tide since 2009, improved to20-0 agains this former assistants. He also upped his record against Fisher to 4-0, with one of those victories coming when Fisher was coaching Florida
State in 2017, his final season with the Seminoles.
Saban said he was proud of his players for their overall effort against the Aggies, but “in 24 hours we need to go to work on what we need to improve on, because there are a lot of things to clean up.”
The1-1Aggies, who opened their abbreviated season with a 17-12 homewin over Vanderbilt on Sept. 26, return to Kyle Field next weekend to take on No. 3 Florida as A&M tries to avoid its first 1-2 start under Fisher.
“We had some (missed) opportunities, and we have to understand
howto maximize our opportunities and that every play matters,” Fisher said. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but (the ability) is there. We’ve just got tohave the urgency to do it and the details to do it.”
A&M senior quarterback Kellen Mond, inhis fourthstart against Alabama, finished 25-of-44 for 318 yards with three touchdown passes— two to Ainias Smith and one to Ryan Renick — to go with an interception returned 47 yards for a touchdown by Daniel Wright.
“At the end of the day we’re always trying towin, and we weren’t able to do that,” Mond said while acknowledging some positives emerging from the setback, primarily a handful of sustained drives. “… There were just a couple of details that cost us, and made that game a lot worse than it was.”
A&M freshman quarterback Haynes King, who led Longview to a state title two years ago, replaced Mond late in the game and quickly marched the Aggies down the field, only to toss an interception on an underthrown 10-yard heave into the end zone.
The Aggies and the rest of the SEC are playing a 10-game regular season schedule, all within the league, because of the pandemic.
“It’s important that guys stay in the moment,” Johnson said of the Aggies being knotted up with the heavily favored Crimson Tide early in the second quarter before A&M came unstitched at the seams. “Guys were shocked that we were right there with them, and there’s no reason to feel that way.”