The Hangover: Lasting thoughts from Texas A&M's loss to Alabama

Texas A&M is now 3-3 on the season following a gut-wrenching 24-20 loss to Alabama where the Aggies had a chance to for a walk-off win on the final play of the game from the two-yard line. The team now gets a much-needed bye week before what looks to be an easier slate of conference games to close out the season. Coming out of the loss, here are some lasting takes from a game that, while a loss, should have the 12th Man faithful hopeful for the future.

A win would have been monumental of course, but if the Aggies were going to lose on Saturday, that type of game and performance is the best outcome in a loss, in terms of the outlook of this program under Jimbo Fisher and for recruiting. There’s growing noise that Fisher will hire an offensive coordinator this offseason. Whether that happens or not, honestly will have to see it to believe it. If that does happen, it bodes well for the Aggies’ future. Recruits across the country took notice of the Aggies’ fight and performance on Saturday and if the team can come out of the bye and close the year on a strong note, recruiting will continue to thrive.

How about McKinnley Jackson? The junior defensive tackle has hardly played this season due to injury and he made a massive difference in his return to action on Saturday. His ability to take on blockers opened things up for the rest of the line to get after Jalen Milroe. He had five tackles of his own as well, for good measure. His return to the lineup is a massive gain for a defense that has played well overall, but has struggled in certain situations. With Jackson back in the lineup, and hopefully the return of some key contributors like Tunmise Adeleye and Tyreek Chappell after the bye week could see the defense elevate to one of the top units in the country down the stretch.

Durkin returns to his base On Saturday, the Aggies primarily played out of a four-man front save for a few second-and-long/third-and-long situations and it paid off. Texas A&M finished the night with four sacks, ten tackles for loss and forced four turnovers, three of which were created because of the pressure the Aggies were able to get on Milroe out of the front. Looking ahead out to the rest of the schedule, the Aggies won’t have to use a three-man front much moving forward, they’ve primarily used it to counteract Mississippi State’s air raid attack and Kendal Briles’ offense, to varied success. The Aggies’ ability to get pressure from the four-man front and the injuries that have affected the secondary should lead to

2022 class shines Texas A&M’s 2022 class has had some early success in their time with the program, but almost every single one that played on Saturday rose to the action and had their best games of their young career. I’ll have more on him later this week, but Walter Nolen was a consistent presence in the backfield and helped set up a couple game-changing plays by others on the defensive line. Saturday was the first glimpse at what the former Five-Star Plus+ prospect is capable of. Anthony Lucas, Shemar Stewart and Lebbeus Overton have had moments all year and held their own against the Crimson Tide. Offensively, this was the Evan Stewart breakout game. He’s led the team in receptions and receiving yards in the past, but Saturday was the first time he truly took over a game. Credit to King for trusting his talented receiver, but there were a couple risky throws that Stewart made a play on that helped flip the momentum.

Bye week Mentioned it up top, but Texas A&M’s bye week comes at an opportune time to get healthy. The aforementioned Chappell, along with Trey Zuhn and Jordan Spasojevic-Moko missed Saturday’s contest and might just need another week to recover. Deuce Harmon and Antonio Johnson both exited the game with an injury, while Tunmise Adeleye has missed a couple weeks now, and all three very well could be back in action out of the bye week. Zuhn and Moko specifically were missed against the Crimson Tide, and having Chappell, Adeleye and Johnson in the starting lineup all night could have been helpful. The bye week could also allow Fisher and staff to re-evaluate things offensively. Haynes King’s performance against Alabama likely bought him some time as the starter, but no doubt this extra week will give Conner Weigman some time to continue learning the playbook and make enough of an impression to see some time down the stretch. On paper, he’s the type of quarterback that can elevate this passing offense, but there’s always concerns in putting a true freshman quarterback on the field behind a struggling offensive line. Could accelerate his development, but could also stunt his development.