Alabama vs. Texas A&M 2013: Tide exact revenge

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•Bo Pelini’s profane rant isn’t bigger than Nebraska

Whether the opponent chooses guerrilla warfare in the jungle or tank battles in the desert, the Alabama High Command has the answers.

Texas A&M was able to beat Alabama in 2012, but the return engagement showed the strides that the Aggies will have to make under Kevin Sumlin to get to the point where they can approach the Tide on equal footing. A&M was able to move the ball on Alabama because of the combination of a sharp offensive scheme, a wide receiver whom the Tide struggled to cover, and the talents of a singular sensation at quarterback.

Agon. The fundamental conflict in a Greek drama or tragedy. I don’t know what makes a classic game, or a classic ending, period, but it has something to do with balance: at the end, did you feel like it obeyed its own logic? Did it run out the rules as they were laid out at the start, and at both ends was it consistent in its rationale?

The 2007 Fiesta Bowl is a classic game, and not just because of its ending, but the ending clearly matters. It’s not like Boise just pulled one rabbit out of its hat: it pulled three in a row in short succession, and got away with it because Boise was small, fast, and smart. Oklahoma was big, dumb, and ultimately slower on the brain-trigger than the wily opponent. Marinade the rest in a little luck, and you have a satisfying result. It was a conflict, is the point, and that conflict had rules.

The game Saturday between Alabama and Texas A&M pretty much lived up to its considerable hype, which is no small feat. It began much like last year’s meeting between the two, with the Aggies jumping out to a 14-0 lead. Then the Crimson Tide’s offense got into gear, helping Alabama reel off 35 straight points to take control. They’d have to withstand a fourth-quarter rally from Texas A&M, but they managed to hold on.

Somewhat surprising was the way in which Alabama began to turn the, er, tide. Once down 14-0, and perhaps feeling some added pressure from how good A&M’s offense had looked, the Crimson Tide put the game on AJ McCarron’s shoulders, and he delivered. Alabama threw the ball 14 times over its next four drives while running it just twice, and when that stretch was over, the Tide held a 21-14 lead.

In Thursday’s Alabama-A&M preview, I mentioned that the Alabama offensive line was facing more questions than it was used to facing after a lackluster performance versus Virginia Tech.

Remember when T.J. Yeldon was stuffed in the backfield near the A&M goal line in the fourth quarter and fumbled? Yeah, that was Texas A&M’s only play in the backfield all game. One tackle for loss in 36 rushes is a stuff rate of 2.8 percent. Combine that with the fact that A&M was officially credited with one quarterback hurry and no sacks in 29 McCarron pass attempts, and you’ve got one of the stories of the game: complete and total domination by the Alabama offensive line.

No. 1 Alabama held off Texas A&M in College Station Saturday afternoon, 49-42. Johnny Manziel threw for five touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as the Alabama offense matched him score for score and came out on top. It was the most-watched regular-season college football game since 2006 and was the rare GAME OF THE CENTURY that met its hype.

Here’s the official highlight video from the SEC:

The months of hype for the Alabama-Texas A&M football showdown certainly paid off for CBS.

Alabama’s win over Johnny Manziel and the Aggies drew a 9.0 rating for CBS, making it the highest-rated regular season college football game in seven years. The game also drew higher ratings than all but three games from last season: the SEC Championship Game between Georgia and Alabama, the Rose Bowl and the BCS National Championship.

Despite giving up a school-record 628 yards and 42 points against Texas A&M, the Tide survived the one-man cyclone that is Johnny Football and will be back for a shot at a BCS three-peat. Well, likely will.

Alabama could face only two more ranked teams -- Ole Miss on Sept. 28 and LSU on Nov. 9, and both at home -- before the SEC Championship. The Tide do not play any of the top three SEC East teams (Georgia, South Carolina and Florida) in the regular season. All three look to be highly flawed, and each already has a loss. As for a challenge out of conference, they’ve got the Rams and Mocs left (I’ll let you figure out which universities those belong to).

The Tide have issues on both sides of the ball, and with a couple games under our belt, we have a better idea A) what those issues are, and B) which teams will probably have the best chance at exploiting them. Not necessarily beating Alabama, mind you, but at least giving the Tide a game.

Johnny Manziel was able to rush for 98 yards on 14 carries on Saturday, and in Alabama’s last two losses, quarterbacks have averaged over 67 rushing yards each.

Alabama held on to beat Texas A&M 49-42 on Saturday, and Alabama super fan/noted tree poisoning lunatic Harvey Updyke has got a message for “Johnny punk.”

Roll Tide.

Alabama just wrapped up a 49-42 barnburner win over Texas A&M, and Nick Saban has a message for Kevin Sumlin: “You took 10 years off my life.”

Watch:

GIF credit: CBS

GIF credit: CBS

Up 42-28 and knocking on the Texas A&M goal line, Alabama really has this one in the books. They can just run and this one’s ove--oh no, T.J. Yeldon fumbled because he’s T.J. Yeldon and he fumbles.

Okay, but A&M still has to score 14 points, there’s just eight minutes left, they’ll have to score quickly -- oh, I see, Johnny Manziel:

Remember Alabama-Texas A&M? It was an offensive explosion and really fun and compelling and great? Well, Alabama did the thing it always does, and put this game to sleep, and that’s exactly the way that Nick Saban likes it.

GIF credit: CBS

(image courtesy of CBS)

Sunseri broke three tackle attempts near the goal line, including one by Manziel that did not go well for the Heisman Trophy winner.

The SEC has made its bones in recent years as being the conference of stifling, overwhelming defense. Those defenses have the day off in College Station today, however, as Alabama and Texas A&M have combined to light up the scoreboard and churn out yards.

Alabama leads 28-14 at the half, but both teams are still actively moving the ball.

After a year of watching their loss to Texas A&M on loop -- and then going down 14-0 to start the game -- Alabama has scored four straight touchdowns and picked off Johnny Manziel in the end zone to enter the half up 14. And on the fourth TD, T.J. Yeldon made it clear he’s done with all the talk.

Message sent.

On September 3, Alabama WR Kenny Bell (not Nebraska WR Kenny Bell) tweeted that he was “hanging up his cleats” and focusing his attention on his kids. Sounds a lot like retirement, huh?

That caught plenty of folks by surprise, not the least of whom was Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban, but hey, that’s what Bell decided, right? Well, it took some massaging, but Saban convinced Bell to come back, and now he’s back on the field doing big things for the Crimson Tide.

Clinton-Dix was called for a personal foul for the hit, initially classified as targeting. Under the new NCAA rule, a “targeting” call carries a mandatory ejection. The targeting call was reviewed by the replay booth and overturned, though the personal foul remained.

Alabama leads 21-14 midway through the second quarter.

Halfback Jalston Fowler took the initial handoff, then pitched it back to McCarron for the throw when A&M’s safeties bit on the fake. It was the eighth consecutive pass play for Alabama and McCarron went 5-of-8 for 114 yards and two touchdowns over that stretch. The pass capped a six-play, 80-yard drive that took just 1:28 off the clock.

In their last two series, the Crimson Tide have made up a 14-point deficit by covering 155 total yards almost exclusively through the air.

Via CBS

I j- ... I ... you see, what happens here is that ... the thing is ... WHHHHHHHHHHHAT?

Johnny Manziel has no respect for authority. He clearly goes out of his way to leap directly into this poor, unsuspecting security guard after a scramble.

This kid I tell you this kid is a disgrace to the game. Look, he even made the security guard BOW to him!

Texas A&M is leading Alabama 14-7 after one quarter in College Station. The Aggies got off to a hot start against the Tide last year, too -- but they were in charge to the tune of 20-0 after one quarter last year.

Johnny Manziel is powering the Aggies to their fast start this year, going 8-11 for 154 yards and a touchdown while rushing for an additional 54 yards. He started last year’s game fast, too, but didn’t have quite the same production when he went 10-for-11 for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Late in the first quarter of today’s heavily-watched game agains Alabama, Texas A&M kick returner Brandon Williams received a kickoff near his own goal line. It did not go well from there.

Texas A&M leads Alabama 14-7 late in the first quarter.

As Sumlin himself noted:

On the first drive, Manziel was 3-for-3 for 68 yards -- plus a scramble for a first down -- including finding Cameron Clear for the one-yard score.