Texas A&M heads back into SEC play Saturday with a trip to Tuscaloosa, where No. 13 Alabama will be waiting at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Both teams are trying to steady their conference seasons after recent setbacks.
The Aggies come in at 4-3 after last weekend’s 41-0 win over The Citadel, a result that lifted them to 1-3 in league play. That shutout gave Texas A&M a needed jolt after back-to-back SEC losses, but the bigger test arrives now against a much stiffer opponent. Alabama, meanwhile, is 5-2 and trying to recover from consecutive defeats to Georgia and Tennessee, including a 26-10 loss to the Volunteers last Saturday.
Saturday also brings Texas A&M back to a place where it has not won since Johnny Manziel powered the Aggies to a memorable upset in 2012. The teams have not played since 2023, ending a run of annual matchups that lasted 12 years.
The most recent meeting came in College Station, where Texas A&M fell 26-20 to No. 11 Alabama after leading 17-10 at halftime.
Jake Johnson and Le'Veon Moss scored for the Aggies before Alabama took over in the third quarter with 14 straight points. Jalen Milroe was sharp for the Crimson Tide, going 21 of 33 for 321 yards and three touchdowns, while Jermaine Burton posted nine catches for 197 yards and two scores.
Max Johnson threw for 239 yards for Texas A&M, but the Aggies produced only 103 yards in the second half. Randy Bond’s field goal in the fourth quarter trimmed the margin to six, but A&M never finished the rally.
The series itself stretches back to the 1942 Cotton Bowl, when Alabama won 29-21. Texas A&M answered in the 1968 Cotton Bowl with a 20-16 victory in the teams’ next postseason meeting.
Before the Aggies entered the SEC in 2012, the programs had met twice more. Texas A&M made an immediate splash in its first conference game against Alabama, beating the top-ranked Crimson Tide 29-24 in Tuscaloosa behind Johnny Manziel.
Alabama then took control of the series, winning eight straight before Texas A&M finally broke through again with a 41-38 win at Kyle Field in 2021. Seth Small sealed that one with a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Since Texas A&M joined the SEC, Alabama leads the series 10-2. The Aggies’ lone road win in Tuscaloosa came in 2012, and the Crimson Tide have won five straight home games in the matchup.
In Other News...
Kevin Sumlin Sees A New Problem Making Texas A&M Even Tougher
Kevin Sumlin has watched Texas A&M from a different seat since leaving College Station in 2017, but he still has a clear read on what the job looks like now. The former Aggies coach, now with the Dallas Renegades, pointed out that every Texas A&M coach has run into problems in the years since his departure, and he sees the programs overall competitive standing as largely unchanged despite all the promises that usually come with a coaching change.
The bigger issue, in Sumlins view, is the way the SEC has shifted around the Aggies. With Texas and Oklahoma joining the league, the recruiting and competitive stakes only get higher, and the road gets even steeper for a program that has long been trying to break through against the conferences elite. It is the kind of evolving landscape that makes Texas A&Ms next leap look more difficult, not less, and it keeps the pressure on whoever is trying to solve the same old problem in a new era. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Faces A Brutal Test As Its Receivers Wear Thin
Texas A&M heads into its matchup with No. 13 Alabama with a familiar sense of urgency, but the Aggies are also trying to piece together an offense that may look different than planned. Redshirt junior Marcel Reed is expected to start at quarterback, with sophomore Brady Hart behind him, and the focus now shifts to how the rest of the supporting cast holds up around them.
Mario Craver and Daymion Sanford are among the players listed as questionable because of injuries, which adds another layer of uncertainty to a week already shaped by a tough opponent. If those absences linger, Texas A&M will need more from younger options like freshman Aaron Gregory and sophomore TK Norman as it adjusts its offensive approach and searches for answers against one of the SECs most demanding tests. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Heads To Alabama With One Big Availability Concern
Texas A&M and Alabama have both put their cards on the table before Saturdays meeting at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and the availability report adds another layer to an already important SEC matchup. The Aggies enter with three players ruled out and five more listed as questionable, while Alabamas report includes six players out and four questionable, setting the stage for a game where depth could matter as much as talent.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC, and the pregame status updates are the kind coaches and fans tend to monitor right up until game time. For Texas A&M, the bigger concern is not just the number of names on the report, but how the questionable group shakes out once the final decisions are made. [Read more 🡒]