Alabama (-8) at Texas A&M
3:30 p.m. EDT
Your local CBS affiliate
If you came here for my bold prediction for the UMass/Kansas State game, I offer my sincerest of apologies.
There’s only one game today. Sure, most of the other 123 FBS teams will be playing games, and there are a few okay ones (UCLA @ Nebraska, at 11 a.m. in Lincoln, for some reason, is a good one), but Alabama at Texas A&M is the pre-national championship game. And for some, it probably is the national championship.
One of those people for whom this is a title game, is Nick Saban. Nick Saban is not a fan of losing. But it’s the way Alabama lost last year that has, I’m sure, weighed on Saban. At home. Dominated in the first half. Unable to contend with A&M’s tempo. Outplayed by a loudmouth, 6’0” freshman quarterback who drives a Mercedes (keyless entry, I hear). Saban has spent the last 10 months waiting for this game. You can’t overstate the revenge factor.
College Station, however, is not an easy place to play. The line on this game (-8) is ridiculous. Texas A&M will cover. The only people taking Alabama (-8) are those who call in regularly to the Paul Finebaum show. “
“Roger from Hoover is on the line. Roger?”
“Ya, Paul, I met you back in 1993 at the Alabama/Tennessee game in Birmingham. You remember that game? 17-17 tie. Ya I was wearing my houndstooth jacket that day. You remember that? Love that jacket. Good jacket. Yeah I just wanted to say, I’m not worried about the offensive line. They were playing opossum in that first game. I’m not worried. AJ’s gonna throw it all over the Aggies. He’s a real quarterback. Do they even play football in Texas? I don’t think they play in Texas. And that little punk quarterback they got, well, you know I got one thing to say that’s Roll Tide!”
I expect an Alabama victory this afternoon in College Station. I’d imagine that the Tide spent a good deal of time working on their tackling in the offseason and in the bye week. I expect a really solid game from Bama linebacker CJ Mosley. Manziel’s flame will not burn out in this game, by any means. He’s a really good college quarterback. But Alabama has a really good quarterback of their own. This won’t be a defensive struggle. Both teams will score. It’ll come down to which defense can make a play late. I think that’s Alabama.
Alabama 35
Texas A&M 31
Now, if I could figure out who to root for…..
Mid-Atlantic Bias 