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Texas A&M pulled off the upheaval of the 2021 college football season – and one for the history books – on Saturday night by beating Alabama No.1, 41-38, in front of 106,815 fans, the second-largest crowd of Kyle Field Story. The result marked Alabama coach Nick Saban’s first career loss to one of his former assistants as Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher took his May Vow at the Houston Touchdown Club as the Aggies would beat the Crimson Tide under Saban.
A 28-yard last-second field goal by Seth Small cemented the result, but it was quarterback Zach Calzada who was the hero of Texas A&M. Calzada led the Aggies in their winning streak after suffering an apparent injury tossing the tying touchdown on the team’s previous possession. The sophomore redshirt achieved what amounted to a legendary performance after his game came under close scrutiny in his first three starts following an injury to the team’s original starting quarterback, Haynes King. Calzada completed 21 of 31 passes for 285 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The loss is Alabama’s first to an unranked opponent since 2007, which was Saban’s first season to lead the program, and it ended the program’s 100-game winning streak against unranked enemies. The Crimson Tide came in as 17.5-point favorites but struggled from the jump as Texas A&M opened a 24-10 halftime lead behind a rejuvenated offensive offense. From there it was about holding on and rallying late as the Aggies scored the last 10 points and improved to 4-2 (1-2 SEC) with the win.
Calzada put TAMU on the back
When King lost early in the Texas A&M game against Colorado on September 11, Texas A&M’s offense changed, and not for the better. Calzada struggled in his first three-plus games as the Aggies quarterback. Entering the Alabama game, he had completed just 53.9% of his passes with four interceptions. Of his five touchdown passes, three came against modest New Mexico.
But Fisher had no choice. Calzada’s replacement is a freshman who had never taken a photo in college. The Aggies had to ride with Calzada, even after starting the championship with listless offensive performances in losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State.
Calzada miraculously delivered on Saturday, both in the first half and again in the fourth quarter. After making 16 of his first 17 passes, Calzada hit a cold stretch in the second half as Alabama rallied. At one point, he missed seven consecutive attempts in the third and fourth quarters. But when the Aggies needed him most, he got away with it. Calzada found Ainias Smith for a 25-yard touchdown 3 minutes from time to tie the score at 38.
But he was injured in the game and needed help leaving the pitch. Fisher followed him into the team’s medical tent as substitute Blake Bost warmed up.
After the Texas A&M defense made a save, it was Calzada who emerged from the tent like Willis Reed to lead the Aggies offense into the field. From there he passed and scrambled Texas A&M in the shooting range for the winning kick at the end of time.
Alabama offensive needs work
Alabama finished with 522 total yards as quarterback Bryce Young trio, running back Brian Robinson Jr. and wide receiver Jameson Williams each posted big numbers. But when the Crimson Tide was most in need of execution, they didn’t get it. The most glaring example came from their last substantial possession in the dying minutes when the Crimson Tide came out three. Even a single first down followed by a punt would have given Texas A&M less clockwork – and a longer field.
Another example of Alabama’s faltering execution came when Tide settled for a field goal after facing a first and a goal from the Aggies’ 3-yard line with less than 10 minutes to go. Trailing 31-27, it looked like they were set to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter. Instead, the Tide settled for a basket without attempting a single running play, despite being within spitting distance of the goal line.
Although he gets lost in the mix of a wild finish, two first-half turnovers also crippled Alabama. Young threw an interception into the end zone that ended a scoring opportunity early in the second quarter. Robinson also fumbled over Alabama’s previous possession, which set up a Texas A&M touchdown. Without those mistakes, Alabama may have found themselves in a whole different ball game when the fourth quarter arrived.
Give Texas A&M Defense Credit
A unit that was forced to transport the entire Texas A&M team for much of the 2021 season finally received help on Saturday. But Aggie’s defense still deserves seriousness; pve for preventing Alabama from opening the floodgates. In particular, four bags from Young put the Tide behind the chains.
Alabama also dominated possession time in the second half, forcing the Aggies defense to spend a lot of time on the court. In the end, they had the stamina to make plays when it mattered most. Statistically, this defense is not quiet at its 2020 level, but it showed on Saturday that it remains an excellent unit.
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