This Saturday's matchup in Bryant-Denny Stadium between No. 13 Alabama (5-2, 3-2 SEC) and Texas A&M (4-3, 1-3 SEC) features two teams in desperate need of a conference win. The Crimson Tide has lost back-to-back games, and the Aggies are winless on the road in SEC play.
Here are three of the biggest storylines I'm keeping an eye on heading into Saturday's game:
How the Alabama offense starts the game
Alabama has scored a touchdown on its opening offensive possession just one time in seven games this season (at Mississippi State in Game 5.) The only other times the Crimson Tide has even scored on its opening drive was a field goal in the season opener against East Carolina.
After the offensive woes the last two qwwks against Georgia and Tennessee, a touchdown drive on the first possession in front of the home crowd at Bryant-Denny could go a long way for the morale of the team and fans alike.
Both head coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb spoke Monday about helping sophomore quarterback Keelon Russell get more settled into games, and setting him up for success by designing plays for what he does best.
It is pretty common in football for a team to have success on its opening drive and then struggle later in the game because the first drive of the game is scripted by the coaches with specific plays the team has been working on all week. However, penalties and negative plays in the first few plays have been blowing up Alabama's scripts.
"I feel like we gotta start extremely fast," right guard Michael Carroll said. "It's always great to start fast and get up on a team early."
Not only would an early score be a good confidence boost, but it would also put a Texas A&M team that has struggled offensively, on its heels early. The Aggies are only averaging 16.8 points per game in SEC play.
Will the former Alabama players make an impact in their return to Bryant-Denny Stadium?
There are three former Crimson Tide players on the Texas A&M roster: offensive lineman Wilkin Formby, wide receiver Isaiah Horton and defensive back Dezz Ricks.
Formby and Horton had more memorable imapcts for Alabama than Ricks, who played in just two games back in 2023 before transferring to A&M. However, Ricks is now a three-year starter for the Aggies at cornerback. This season, he has six total tackles.
Horton spent just one season in Tuscaloosa last year after transferring in from Miami. He finished third on the team with 42 catches for 511 yards, but led Alabama in receiving touchdowns with 8, capping the regular season with three touchdowns against Auburn in the Iron Bowl victory. This year, he leads the Aggies with 20 catches for 280 yards and three touchdowns.
Formby was the definition of a homegrown player, growing up in Tuscaloosa and playing his high school ball at Northridge a few miles away from the Alabama campus. The offensive lineman earned a starting job at right tackle during his third year with the Crimson Tide, but then moved inside to guard a few games into the season. He has found himself on a simliar path at Texas A&M this season.
Will those three players have a little extra juice facing their former team this Saturday?
"They were good teammates, good players here,” Alabama tight end Marshall Pritchett said of Formby and Horton. “They are both having successful seasons. It’s part of the nature of the game,- people moving around. No hard feelings with those guys. Just excited to play Texas A&M as a whole.”
Can Alabama pass rush get back on track?
Improving the pass rush was a major offseason for Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack. The season got off to a strong start in that regard with 16 sacks through the first five games, but in the losses the last two weeks against Georgia and Tennessee, the Tide defense collected just one sack in each game.
"We knew these last two weeks that these are teams that were highly efficient in terms of how they were going to disperse the ball offensively," Wommack said. "I mean, they were going to get the ball out of the quarterback's hands. That was Georgia's plan. That was Tennessee's plan. And so the ball was going to come out. You were going to get opportunities on third down to affect the quarterback. But they certainly had him very well coached up to get the ball out of his hands, even when we did create some pressure.
"That was just kind of the style of game that they were going to run, and the way the game was in flow, and that they had a lead, they were able to continue to just stay efficient, trying to run the football and not hold on to the football. And so naturally, you're going to have less of those things, but to me, you're always trying to find ways to create negative plays and takeaways, and I just didn't do a good enough job of finding a way to get that done.”
The inability to get to the quarterback has been part of the reason the Alabama defense has struggled to get off the field in critical situations the last two games. Without Terrance Green, it forces Devan Thompkins to play inside more and limits his pass-rushing opportunities.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed can make plays with his feet, which makes him harder to bring down, but the Aggie offensive line has allowed 13 sacks on the season. Alabama has to find ways to get more pressure on the quarterback this week.
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