Same reason they talk about the "last time these storied programs met..." in 1966 or something else just as pointless. Bama players were in high school when Bama last played Knight.
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But Knight wasn't in HS the last time he played Alabama.
Much is getting made right now of the more aggressive posture of Alabama's pass rush this year but this is fundamentally the same defense Alabama has used since 2007. It changes here and there as the years go along to take advantage of a particular unit's strength, or a key player or two, but this is not Kirby Smart's defense nor is it Jeremy Pruitt's defense; it's Nick Saban's defense. It's a 3-4 over/under with the same basic substitution patterns that it's always had.
It also has the same softness over the top of the linebackers in the middle of the field. The fortunate thing for Alabama here is Texas A&M really has no tight end to drop into that area. If A&M's tight ends catch a single pass this game, it will be their first of the year.
I'm not expecting to shut down Knight. If you want to take an honest look at the numbers, he's just as effective running the ball as Hurts; they just each go about it in a different way. What I'm going to be interested to see is whether the center and guards on Texas A&M's offensive line are really any good. So far this unit has managed to keep Knight upright despite facing a pretty good edge rush against Auburn, a decent edge rush against Arkansas, an overachieving defense that has put up respectable numbers in light of a totally inept offense (South Carolina) that can't stay on the field, and the same Derek Barnett Alabama just faced a week ago. If Alabama has success, it will be where others have not. A&M hasn't played a bunch of terrible defenses and I'd hope we'd all be honest enough with ourselves to admit a large part of the Tennessee blowout was due to the Vols losing so many players due to injury, both as the A&M game went along and over the course of our own.
Defensively, A&M has a weak middle. That says run it until we gas ourselves, to me, but Lane Kiffin almost never does the obvious. We've profiled a weak LB corps, and Chavis puts so much on his LBs that historically he's only effective when he's had good ones capable of handling the responsibilities.
I could easily see Alabama scoring more than 34 but I can also see A&M scoring more than 28. Some of you guys are expecting a shutdown, but I'll remind everyone that Ole Miss put 43 on Alabama despite not having a playmaker anywhere at running back. The two best QBs Alabama has faced (Austin Allen and Chad Kelly) have each gone for 400+. Knight has already proven to us that he can do it against our defensive scheme. And it's not like Bama had crap players in 2013.
