Monday Tailgate: Welcome to Alabama-Texas A&M Week (USA News)

We're at last in the last leg. Only five days from now is the amusement we've had surrounded on our schedules since final November, when Texas A&m went into Tuscaloosa and stunned No. 1 Alabama, 29-24.

On Nov. 10, 2012, Johnny Manziel came to be "Johnny Football." The Aggies bounced out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and held on, catching AJ Mccarron on the objective line with less than two minutes to go as the Crimson Tide was heading to take the lead. Manziel, the projected Heisman champ, tossed for 253 yards and two touchdowns, running for 92 more yards.
Saturday's standoff in College Station is a standout amongst the most expected standard season amusements in later memory. The main two that can match this were No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups, Ohio State-Michigan in 2006 and LSU-Alabama in 2011.

In spite of the fact that Texas A&m is stacked up No. 6 without much fanfare, the reprisal plot and the uproar encompassing Manziel make this maybe significantly more captivating diversion than either of the aforementioned informally named the "Game of the Century."

(For what its worth, Alabama was falling off a bye week when it lost the 2011 consistent season amusement to LSU. At the same time Les Miles and the Tigers likewise had a bye, with the goal that was only an instance of SEC diversion hypothesis at its finest.)

Saturday, in his first open remarks of the season, Manziel appeared to downplay the idea that this diversion is any distinctive for the tide. "It feels like an alternate diversion," Manziel said. "It feels like Week 3 of the season."

Alabama looked mortal in Week 1 against Virginia Tech and had an open week to arrange for the Aggies. Texas A&m caught up its opening win against Rice with a 65-28 defeat of FCS contender Sam Houston State, a diversion that some gentleman thought could be disturbed grain.

The Tide's offense battled in the opener, and the majority of that could be followed again to the patched up hostile line. Mccarron was sacked four times and was only 10-of-23 through the air, looking not at all like the sure quarterback who was around the most effective in the country last season. Alabama administered only 96 yards hurrying, the first run through since that LSU amusement in 2011 that the Tide didn't achieve 100 yards.

On the other side of the ball, its all about halting Manziel, who may be kryptonite for the Tide's vaunted safeguard. Going over to 2010, Alabama's final four misfortunes have come against groups headed by versatile quarterbacks. Jordan Jefferson and LSU beat the Tide in 2010 and '11; Cam Newton and Auburn destroyed it 2010; and Manziel headed the route in 2012.

Manziel's improvisational aptitudes and capacity to get outside the pocket created bad dreams for the Tide last season, basically killing the quality advantage that Alabama's inside line constantly has.

"Indeed, when you've called the right barrier and your resistance does everything right, that sort of quarterback can at present defeat you by extemporizing," Alabama mentor Nick Saban said. "It's the stuff you can't truly anticipate that generally carries a large amount of concern."

Recollect that this? Saban positively does.