Instant Analysis: Texas A&M 41, No. 1 Alabama 38
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It had to end at some point.
In 24 tries, former Nick Saban assistants failed to take down their coaching mentor. Jimbo Fisher had four of those losses on his resume.
The Texas A&M coach finally got over the hump as his Texas A&M Aggies stunned Saban and the No. 1 Crimson tide 41-38 on Saturday at Kyle Field.
It's the first loss for Alabama since 2019 against Auburn, which ends a 19-game win streak.
"This is the second time we've won 19 games in a row," Saban said. "Last time was South Carolina and we kind of played like that again. I don't know about the psychology of that. It's not about the game, everyone wants to play well and win, it's what you do to get to that point and sense of purpose. We need to do things better to play better."
The seemingly unbeatable Crimson Tide was off in all phases, failing to score touchdowns in the red zone, unable to get key stops on defense, and letting the momentum slip back to the Aggies on a 96-yard kickoff return.
Despite quarterback Bryce Young passing for 369 yards and Brian Robinson running for 147, the Crimson Tide offense failed to score in the red zone three times, instead settling for field goals. There was another scoring opportunity snuffed out when Young threw an interception with Alabama on the Aggies' 1-yard line.
Alabama's defense was exposed in the first half to the tune of 24 Aggie points and 258 total yards. The second half was a different story as the Crimson Tide got four straight stops to allow the offense to climb back into the game and take its second lead of the game late in the fourth quarter.
But the Aggies scored a game-tying field goal and the winning field goal for the walk-off win.
"Hopefully we learn a lot from this," Saban said. "Everything is still before us, but there's a lot of things we need to fix."
