No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies will face the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide in a Top 25 matchup on Saturday. Both teams came up with a win in their season openers against SEC opponents last week.
Alabama was dominant against Missouri, winning 38-19. Quarterback Mac Jones threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The Crimson Tide’s leading rusher was Najee Harris, who ran for 98 yards and three touchdowns.
Texas A&M barely came out with a win in its opener against Vanderbilt, which it should’ve handled easily. The Aggies won 17-12, as quarterback Kellen Mond threw for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
Alabama Looks to Win SEC
The SEC season is going to be tough for these teams. The top college football teams in the country will be facing off each week, and Alabama is the team to beat.
The Tide’s defense played just as fans expect, holding the Tigers to 69 yards on the ground last week.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that it was a good win for the opening game of the season,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “Any time you can win a game in the SEC, you have to be happy about that. I thought we played well in the first half, which shows the preparation and focus the players had.”
So far, Jones has held off Bryce Young for the starting quarterback nod. But at the first sign of trouble, the young freshman may get a shot. Both of these guys have a tough job in replacing Tua Tagovailoa.
Expect Alabama to get plenty of help from its defense in this one. If the Aggies play like they did against Vanderbilt, Alabama will have a chance to hold them close to scoreless.
Aggies Struggle in Opener
Texas A&M won last week, but it should not have been that close. The Aggies will lose their ranking fairly quickly in this SEC schedule if they continue to play like they did. But it was a win.
“A victory is a victory, but all three phases didn’t play how I thought we could or how we can,” Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher said. “We made the plays when we had to, but, man, too much inconsistency. We’ve just got to get them to play better, and that’s my fault.”
With the offense struggling, the A&M defense picked up the slack. The Aggies limited Vanderbilt to 3.8 yards per play, while not allowing a play to go for more than 27 yards.
Prediction
The spread in this one is big for a Top 25 matchup. Alabama is an 18-point favorite against Texas A&M.
I believe the Crimson Tide will win this game, but it stays a little closer than the spread suggests. I’m going to take the Aggies at +18.
The over/under is set at 53.5, and I love the under. I prefer that bet over the spread. These are the top two defenses in the league, and I expect them both to play well in this one.
Go with under 53.5 points.