I didn't get a chance to watch the game because I had to work late, although I did manage to see the final 8 minutes. There are a few things that stood out to me from what I saw, and here they are.
1. I want to tip my hat to A&M and Coach Sumlin for this huge win tonight. They played a whale of a game, and they proved to everybody that they are a valuable addition to the SEC. Well done rookies, well done.
2.The officials must have been doing laundry before the game, or they left their flags in another pair of pants. There were two blatant helmet to helmet collisions by aTm that should have resulted in two penalties. In both instances, the defender launched into the runner head first, and in the second one down on the goalline, I'm pretty sure AJ was already on his way to the ground. The thing that made them noth so frustrating is that both happened right in front of an official, and we've all seen hits called that were much less blatant than these. I'm not blaming this loss on the officials, but those were two of the worst non calls I've seen in a while.
3. It looked to me like AJ predetermined who he was going to throw to on the final interception. I'm not sure if it was drawn up that way, or if he just blew it, but anyone could have seen that pass coming.
4. Why is it that all of these qb's are having career days against us? First there was Mettenberger putting up numbers like he hasn't all season, and now Johnny Football puts up video game numbers on our defense. Is it luck, or are we in that much trouble?
5. There probably isn't a hotter team in college football than aTm right now, and they would have beaten anybody in the country after a performance like this one tonight. Counter that with us being beaten and bruised after one of the most mentally and emotionally taxing games in our history last Saturday against LSU, and you have a recipe for a trap game everytime.
6. Finally, I hope we return to our roots after this week. We've always had our greatest success when we've passed to supplement our run game. The past two weeks we've put to much pressure on a beat up AJ, and I do believe it cost us the game tonight.
All in all, we are still in great shape. With a little luck we still get into Miami, but even if we don't we are still set up to finish strong and play in a big bowl game. While it's not ideal, it could be a whole lot worse. Don't ever give up on Saban or this team. Roll Tide