Alabama’s stunning loss to Texas A&M upsets college football playoff photo

It was a defining victory for Fisher, who became the first of Saban’s former assistants to defeat him on the field in 25 collective attempts. It was also Texas A&M’s first victory over Alabama at College Station.

The Texas A&M upheaval was a chaotic nightcap to a topsy-turvy day of college football that saw two undefeated teams – No. 4 Penn State and No. 10 BYU – lose and several more barely escape. No.19 Wake Forest needed extra time to fend off Syracuse and No.6 Oklahoma fought back from an 18-point hole at halftime in the Red River Showdown to defeat No.21 Texas 55- 48.

The chaos is a refreshing change for a sport where the playoff pitch almost felt decided at the end of September. This season, there don’t seem to be many clear front runners, other than No.2 Georgia, who allowed their first rushing touchdown this week against Auburn.

Number 5 Cincinnati is pushing hard to become the first American Athletic Conference team to advance to the playoffs. Three Big Ten teams remain perfect: Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State.

Alabama, of course, can still make the list: winning would get them into the semi-finals. However, the upheaval of Texas A&M takes them even further away from the control of their destiny.

Texas A&M’s victory was made all the more impressive by how far it has come to victory: this 2021 team is a far cry from the dominant team that finished the 2020 season truncated 9-1 in fifth place in the nation. Starting quarterback Haynes King cracked his shin in Week 2 and his replacement, Zach Calzada, struggled. The Aggies started the weekend with a disappointing 3-2 record and had escaped the polls.

The Crimson Tide, as usual, was rolling. They won the National Championship last season and saw most of their offense selected on the opening night of the NFL Draft and somehow reloaded to look just as solid. .

It’s also why, when Saban learned about Fisher’s beard about a whooping cough in Texas, he joked, “What, golf?”

However, on his radio show Thursday, Saban feared that Alabama was getting into “a little trap game.” Kyle Field is about as hostile as the enemy SEC’s stadiums, with its crowds of over 100,000 fans getting so loud the stands sway.

The deafening noise at College Station would be the least of Saban’s worries on Saturday. There were missed tackles and errors, stray balls and penalties. Young was also sacked three times in the first half – more than the offensive line allowed in the first five games combined – and once more after the break.

Running back Brian Robinson Jr. missed the ball on his team’s 44-yard line early in the game. Texas A&M capitalized with a touchdown to give the Aggies a 10-point lead.

On the next haul, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young took the Crimson Tide down to the 1-yard line to kick the game into the hands of Demani Richardson of Texas A&M. Calzada threw his own interception on the next play, but the Texas A&M defense limited their opponents to a field goal. Alabama were down at halftime for the first time since 2019.

It wasn’t all Alabama’s mistakes. Texas A&M got a boost from Channel 2 quarterback Calzada. He completed 13 of 14 passes for two touchdowns and 183 yards in the first half. It was a remarkable departure from his previous starts, in which he had only accumulated 148 passing yards per game on average.

Alabama appeared to wake up in the third quarter, forcing Texas A&M to strike deep into their own turf, then rush into punter Aggies to dislodge the ball back into the end zone for a touchdown. Still, on the next play, Texas A&M’s Devon Achane returned the kickoff for 96 yards to make it 31-17.

Texas A & M’s offense stuttered, opening the door for Alabama to return to the game. Young threw wide receiver Jameson Williams, a transfer from Ohio State, for two touchdowns, including a 2-point conversion that gave Alabama their first lead of the game with five minutes left.

But the Aggies roared back, with Calzada tying the game at 38 with less than 3 minutes to go with a desperate 25-yard lift that somehow fell into the hands of Ainias Smith.

The exploits seemed to come at a cost: Calzada suffered a brutal hit to the kneecaps on the play and had to be assisted off the field. The next man for Texas A&M was a walk-in freshman who hadn’t taken a single photo. Their only other alternative to quarterback was a tight end who switched positions during fall camp.

Yet soon after, Calzada improbably stepped onto the pitch as 100,000 people chanted his name. He moved the Aggies to the Alabama 11-yard line, where Seth Small kicked the winning basket with 1 second left. Johnny Manziel, the last Texas A&M quarterback to beat Alabama, threw his fist on the sidelines and thousands of undergraduates flooded the field.

Write to Laine Higgins at [email protected]