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#1 Alabama vs Texas A&M Watch Party

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The Tide is heading to College Station this weekend to take on the Aggies. The Aggies may be currenlty unranked, but they tend to stick ot the SEC tradition of giving Alabama all they've got.

Coming off of 2 straight losses, Arkansas and Mississippi St (their only conference games so far), Coach Jimbo Fisher seems hopeful and chose to focus on the positives to start this past weekend's post game press conference. Fisher seemed pleased with the Aggies' improvment on consistency in the run game and fewer penalties, but feels there's room to improve from both the players and the coaching staff.

Player stress and mental wellbeing being a top priority for Coach Fisher, the Aggies are working to combat the negativity of their 2 major losses by blocking out social and sports media and focusing on the game ahead. When asked about the chances of upsetting the Tide, Fisher brushed off the idea of home field advantage and focused on practicing hard and executing on game day.

The loss of red shirt freshman QB Haynes King (62.9% completion rate, 300 yards) to a lower right leg injury in week 2 seems to have been detrimental to the Aggies offense. Week 1 saw a 41-10 victory over Kent St. where King and the Aggies were in control for just over 35 minutes of play, resulting in 29 first downs and 292 passing yards, though King did have 3 interceptions. Prior to his injury in the Aggies' 2nd possession of week 2, King was ranked by ESPN as the No. 3 dual-threat QB and No. 46 overall in the 2020 recruiting class. 

Jimbo Fisher feels QB Zach Calzada (confirmed to start this weekend) seems to be growing in confidence and improving each game. Fisher confirmed that King has a broken ankle, but is still is participating, though not physically, in practices and meetings and working with Calzada to help improve each play. 

During his own post game press conference on Saturday, star TE Jalen Wydermyer said names the 2019 loss to Alabama as the breakout game of his career. Played in College Station, The Tide to a 47-28 victory in that game. Coach Fisher believes that Wydermyer has improved more over the last 2 years and feels the tight end played one of his best games against Arkansas this year.

After last week's victory, Coach Saban is now 24-0 over his past assistants. When speaking on this weekend's game, Coach Saban said, "I think this is a very challenging game that we have coming up against a very good team. ... This is a very challenging place to play. Jimbo does a great job getting his team ready to play. He’s a very good offensive play caller. They got a great defensive team."

However, SEC Netowrk's Greg McElroy on The Paul Finebaum Show said, "The only way this game is going to be competitive is if, for whatever reason, Alabama overlooks and disrespects the Aggies." As a former Alabama QB from Coach Saban's early days at Alabama, McElroy understands how much Coach Saban works with his players to treat all teams with the same respect, regardless of ranking. This is the key to preventing another Georgia Southern or Louisiana Monroe. When asked to comment on Nick Saban as a coach, Fisher couldn't deny the dominance of the Crimson Tide, discribing Coach Saban as extraordinary and the players as extremely talented and fundamentally sound. 

Aggies to watch:

• QB Zach Calzada - 53.9% completion rate, 744 yards
• RB Isaiah Spiller - 445 yards, 6.5 avg
• RB Devon Achane - 296 yards, 6.9 avg
• WR Ainias Smith - 200 yards, 10 avg
• TE Jalen Wydermyer - 176 yards, 11.7 avg
• WR Demond Demas - 121 yards, 24.2 avg
• DL DeMarvin Leal - 4.5 sacks for 17 yards
• DL Micheal Clemons - 2.5 sacks for 12 yards

Texas A&M injuries of note:

• QB Haynes King - red shirt freshman, underwent ankle surgery, expected return in mid-Oct
• DB Brian George - senior, out for seaon, may need surgery
• DB Myles Jones - senior, out for season, underwent surgery

Alabama inguries of note:

• RB Jase McClellan - sophomore, knee injury, out for season (2nd best RB in stats)

We'll see you at Coscino's Italian Grill on Saturday, October 2. Kick-off is at 7:00, but please plan to arrive at 6:30. You'll see the Sanctuary Room just inside the door to the left of the hostess stand.

Roll Tide!

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