SEC Preview: Alabama Travels to Texas A&M

The Texas A&M Aggies welcome in the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend for an SEC West Showdown. The Aggies will have the tough test of slowing down the Tide as Alabama has defeated it last two SEC opponents by a average of 61 points.

Dominant Offense

This weekend’s game features two of the most prolific offenses in the SEC. Alabama has the top-ranked offense in the conference, averaging 509 yards per game and scoring 46.2 points per game.  Texas A&M has the second best offense, averaging 448 yards and scoring 37.4 points per game.

Both of these offenses are very balanced, and lead by relatively young quarterbacks. True sophomore Jalen Hurts starts for the Tide and Kellen Mond for the Aggies.

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban says he has been very impressed with the maturation of his young quarterback from last year to this year.

Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin said he has not been surprised by the success of Jalen Hurts, a quarterback he recruited heavily to come to Texas A&M.

Although, Kellen Mond has been no slouch this year either. After taking over in the Aggies’ first game of the season when the previous starter Nick Starkel went down due to injury, Mond has done nothing but improve. His confidence is quickly growing every week as he is becoming more comfortable with the offense and his coaches are becoming more comfortable with him.

Deciding Factors

There are two major factors to look out for this weekend that could drastically affect who comes out on top.

First is Texas A&M’s home field advantage, home of the 12th man. The Aggies were able to ride the emotion of the crowd last week to a win over South Carolina and they are hoping to do the same this week. Kevin Sumlin said he was very appreciative of his fans’ efforts during last weeks game.

The #12thMan is unbelievable – @JarrettJ_40

6:15 p.m. | Saturday | Kyle Field#12thMan #BAMAvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/T3eR16YTae

— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 5, 2017

Alabama has not had to deal with an overbearing home field advantage in recent weeks. If the Aggies are able to keep this game close, the 12th man for Texas A&M may be the difference.

The second deciding factor is complacency. Alabama has to fight the complacency factor headed into this weekend’s game. After dominating their last two SEC opponents by a combined point spread of 122 points it could be easy for the Tide to lack focus headed into this weekends game. Nick Saban said they can’t let the success of their last two games allow them overlook the Aggies.

You can catch coverage of this weekends game on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 7:15 PM.