A&M keeps series vs. Alabama interesting
COLLEGE STATION — One of the most memorable things Eric Hyman did as Texas A&M’S athletic director was crack a joke about Alabama.
“What do the moon and Texas A&M have in common?” Hyman asked a collection of A&M supporters a decade ago. “They both control the tide.”
Hyman, in feeling his oats following a collective chortle from the crowd in College Station, then turned to Kevin Sumlin and told the A&M coach he wanted to be able to “say the same thing” the following year.
“No pressure, Eric,” a chagrined Sumlin said. “Thank you.”
Hyman and Sumlin are both long gone from A&M, but the Aggies-crimson Tide annual carnival lives on for one more season, including 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Kyle Field. It lives on not only in middling to sizzling one-liners — A&M coach Jimbo Fisher last year urged reporters to “go dig into how ‘God’ (aka Nick Saban) did his deal” — but in blistering finishes of late.
Two years ago, A&M defeated No. 1 Alabama 41-38 on a last-second field goal by kicker Seth Small that prompted a storming
of Kyle’s field, with thena&m quarterback Zach Calzada dancing in the locker room afterward with an A&M Corps of Cadets member’s garrison cap planted on his head.
Last year, Alabama exhaled when then-a&m quarterback Haynes King’s pass from the Alabama 2-yard line sailed wide right of the end zone on the final play, and the Crimson Tide escaped their own stadium with a 24-20 win.
“The Aggies gave the Tide all they wanted and then some,” CBS announcer Brad Nessler said as No. 1 Alabama celebrated its win over an unranked opponent.
This year, A&M senior
receiver Ainias Smith, whose older brother Maurice Smith controversially exited the Alabama program in 2016, said, “I know what Nick Saban wants … and we’re gonna mess that up.”
Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker hopped in on the smack talk by telling “The Next Round” sports show out of Birmingham, Ala., that the Crimson Tide’s “mindset is let’s see how fast we can empty this stadium.”
In truth only the first two and last two games of the series with both teams in the SEC West (since 2012) have been close, and Alabama holds a 12-3 edge in the series. The Aggies
under Fisher have greatly tightened the gap in recruiting, however, prompting Saban’s erroneous claim in May of last year that A&M had “bought” its entire top-ranked class of 2022.
Fisher angrily responded the next day that perhaps Saban, a fellow West Virginian, could have used a slapping as a child.
Former A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel started all this by daring to march the Aggies into Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2012 and pull out a 29-24 victory over a top-ranked team (are we seeing a trend here?). The Aggies had been an average at best Big 12 program prior to their entry
into the SEC that year.
Manziel, who won the Heisman Trophy later in 2012, had posted to social media before the upset: “Give to them nothing but take from them EVERYTHING.”
That’s from the movie “300” starring Gerard Butler and served as Manziel’s Alabama mantra considering Sumlin didn’t allow his redshirt freshman to speak with the media during the regular season.
Alabama won by a touchdown the following year at Kyle Field (49-42) in perhaps the most hyped game in A&M history (certainly not in the history of Alabama, which has won six national titles since 2009 under Saban alone).
The Crimson Tide won eight consecutive contests in the series starting in 2013 and by an average of 23 points per game. The last two games, which the programs split, have been decided by a total of seven points in finally adding a little on-field intrigue to the mix.
Alabama is a 2 1⁄2 -point favorite in the 16th meeting between the two. With Texas and Oklahoma entering the SEC in 2024 and divisions falling by the wayside, Alabama is not on the Aggies’ schedule for the first time since 2011, when A&M was in the Big 12.
In 1957, coach Paul “Bear” Bryant exited A&M for his alma mater Alabama when he said “mama called.” In late 2002, coach Dennis Franchione exited Alabama for A&M, essentially to escape the ghost of Bryant.
Alabama fans were mad at A&M for stealing their coach 20 years ago but thankful a few years later because Franchione leaving paved the way for Saban to enter the picture in 2007 (following the failings of Mike Shula from 2003-06). Fisher two years ago became the first former Saban assistant to beat the boss, and Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Texas’s Steve Sarkisian have done it since.
“They’re a complete football team … and we’re gonna have to play better than we’re playing,” Fisher said of the Crimson Tide and the Aggies’ chances against Alabama. “… Coach Saban is a great coach with a great staff.”
Two years ago at a Touchdown Club of Houston visit, Fisher vowed “we’re going to beat his ass even when he’s there” when a fan asked how he planned to defeat Saban, who turns 72 on Halloween, before he retires.
The Aggies then backed it up in once again, if only for a time, controlling the Tide and touching off an uncontrollable celebration on the field and across College Station.