Ever since the Aggies entered the SEC, their games against the mighty Crimson Tide have always been close. After Texas A&M's first game this year, a walloping win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, many had believed that they would be contenders in the SEC, with new quarterback Kenny Hill being potentially an All-American. The Aggies have been so great the past few years, it would be hard to imagine the game against Alabama being anything but a thriller.

My, how times have changed.

Both the Aggies and the Tide have been lackluster the past few weeks. TAMU was coming off of two consecutive losses to the two Mississippi schools, while Alabama had a loss against Ole Miss then a razor-thin win over Arkansas. Both teams were looking to try to place themselves back in the thick of things in the SEC West.

Let's just say that Texas A&M didn't look hard enough.

Yours truly could go on and on with poor puns about how Texas A&M played today, but let's be honest. This Aggies team put up one of the most nonchalant, lackluster, sloppy, and simply horrendous performances in their history. Let's just focus on their defense first, although both sides of the ball were putrid. Alabama scored a touchdown on each drive in the 1st half except one that ended with a field goal, the first drive of the game for the Tide. The endless onslaught that the Tide put on A&M was unbelievable. It looked at times that Texas Agriculture & Mechanical University gave up on plays, simply letting Blake Sims and Alabama glide past them, missing tackles and blowing assignments. It's a proud defense with some good pieces, like DeShazor Everett in the secondary, but DC Mark Snyder has done a poor job putting all the pieces together. He is certainly on the hot seat.

On offense, Kenny Hill hardly had any time to throw due to their offensive line being mowed down by the Alabama front lines. Xzavier Dickson, Trey DePriest, Nick Perry, Tim Williams, Reggie Ragland (who once intercepted Hill), Maurice Smith, Jonathan Allen, DJ Pettway, Landon Collins, and more Alabama defensive players combined together to shut out Texas A&M for the first time in Kevin Sumlin's tenure.

Nick Saban must be credited greatly with the explosion of his boys of Tuscaloosa today. He and OC Lane Kiffen made the right adjustments on offense, although A&M made things easy on the Tide. He defended his team in press conferences the past week, giving them the confidence they needed. Alabama now has their mojo back, it seems, and SEC West teams will have quite the challenge trying to stop them down the stretch. They head to Knoxville next week to tussle with the young Tennessee Volunteers.

A&M, on the other hand, is a hot mess. All three sides of the ball, offense, defense, and special teams, look horrid. They get a good reprieve next week against the far less superior Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks of the Sun Belt Conference. The team will have to somehow bounce back after the disaster they suffered today.

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About the author
Ben Anderson
Hi, folks. I am Ben, a West Virginian, loud and proud. I've been the editor in chief of VAVEL USA since December of 2013, and continue to work hard and make the International Sports Newspaper the best on the internet.