QB: Jalen Hurts (Fr.; 6'2", 209 lbs.; 113-178, 1,385 yards, 9 TD, 3 INT; 74 carries for 428 yards and 8 TD)

RB: Damien Harris (Soph.; 5'11", 214 lbs.; 69 carries, 573 yards, 1 TD)

TE/H-back: O.J. Howard (Sr.; 6'6", 251 lbs.; 14 catches, 209 yards, 1 TD)

TE: Hale Hentges (Soph.; 6'5", 256 lbs.; 3 catches, 10 yards)

WR-X: ArDarius Stewart (RS-Jr.; 6'1", 204 lbs.; 26 catches, 379 yards, 3 TD)

WR-Z: Calvin Ridley (Soph.; 6'1", 188 lbs.; 39 catches for 477 yards and 4 TD)

WR-H: Gehrig Dieter (Sr.-TR.; 6'3", 207 lbs.; 8 catches, 175 yards, 1 TD)

LT: Cam Robinson (Jr.; 6'6", 310 lbs.)

LG: Ross Pierschbacher (RS-Soph.; 6'4", 304 lbs.)

C: Bradley Bozeman (RS-Jr.; 6'5", 319 lbs.)

RG: Alphonse Taylor (RS-Sr.; 6'5', 345 lbs.)

RT: Jonah Williams (Fr.; 6'5", 295)

Scoring offense: 45.4 PPG (4th nationally, 1st SEC)

Passing offense: 239 YPG (54th nationally, 6th SEC)

Rushing offense: 265.7 YPG (10th nationally, 2nd SEC)

Total offense:504.7 YPG (17th nationally, 2nd SEC)

Time of possession: 31:22 (38th nationally, 5th SEC)

3rd down conversions: 49% (16th nationally, 2nd SEC)

4th down conversions: 62.5% (33rd nationally, 3rd SEC)

First downs: 155 (25th nationally, 2nd SEC)

Red zone conversion %: 84.4% (62nd nationally, 5th SEC)

Turnover +/-: +4 (10 giveaways, 14 takeaways; 32nd nationally, 4th SEC)

Sacks allowed: 13 (44th nationally, 5th SEC)

Penalties: 43 for 352 yards (81st nationally, 12th SEC)

There basic tenants of the Alabama offense have remained the same for a while: run the ball behind a big, bruising front line and use play action to beat you deep. How they're doing it, however, has changed with the arrival of Lane Kiffin and the emergence of Hurts.

With a mobile quarterback, the Tide is now running all sorts of zone read plays, not just their basic lining up under center and pounding it between the tackles (though they still do that). Many of the run/pass option plays set up for Hurts are similar to what A&M is doing with Trevor Knight: he can hand it off, he can pull it and run himself or he can come up and throw the ball out quickly.

Damien Harris has become the lead back, and he's ripping off 8.3 yards a carry so far this year. He can run straight up the gut or he can be devastating on the old Alabama toss sweep, which they're still utilizing. Hurts is the real change in the running game with his ability to keep the ball and make plays with his feet. Several teams have kept him in check, but in Alabama's two biggest games -- Ole Miss and Tennessee -- he's gone off, for 146 and 132 yards, respectively.

The passing game consists of a lot of quicker passes to guys like Ridley and Stewart, high percentage plays that allow them to use their speed to get up the field. But don't doubt that the Tide won't go bombs away; Stewart, especially, has become a major deep threat, even more so than Ridley. It also helps that Hurts has a massive safety blanket in O.J. Howard, who can be a traditional target between the hashmarks or can go down the field. He'll give A&M one more thing they'll have to somehow account for.

DE: Myles Garrett (Jr.; 6'4", 270 lbs.; 14 tackles, 6 TFL, 4 sacks, 6 QB hurries, 1 fumble recovery, 1 forced fumble)

DT: Zaycoven Henderson (Jr.; 6'2", 300 lbs.; 14 tackles, 2.5 TFL, .5 sacks, 2 QB hurries, 1 fumble recovery)

DT: Kingsley Keke (Soph.; 6'6", 315 lbs.; 13 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack)

DE: Daeshon Hall (Sr.; 6'6", 270 lbs.; 24 tackles, 9 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 10 QB hurries, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries)

WLB: Shaan Washington (Sr.; 6'3", 240 lbs.; 45 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 4 QB hurries, 2 forced fumbles, 5 passes broken up)

MLB: Otaro Alaka (RS-Soph.; 6'3", 240 lbs.; 29 tackles, 3 TFL)

SLB: Richard Moore (Soph.; 6', 218 lbs.; 12 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 QB hurry, 1 pass broken up)

Nickel: Donovan Wilson (Jr.; 6'1", 206 lbs.; 29 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 sack, 2 QB hurries, 2 passes broken up)

RCB: Nick Harvey (Jr.; 5'10", 185 lbs.; 37 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 6 passes broken up)

FS: Armani Watts (Jr.; 5'11", 200 lbs.; 36 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 INT, 3 passes broken up)

SS: Justin Evans (Sr.; 6'1", 200 lbs.; 48 tackles, 3 TFL, 6 passes broken up, 3 INT, 1 blocked kick)

LCB: Priest Willis (RS-Jr.; 6'2", 200 lbs.; 24 tackles, .5 TFL, 7 passes broken up, 1 INT)

Scoring defense: 19.2 PPG (22nd nationally, 5th SEC)

Pass defense: 278.2 YPG (109th nationally, 14th SEC)

Rush defense: 159.3 YPG (68th nationally, 7th SEC)

Total defense: 437.5 YPG (98th nationally, 12th SEC)

First downs allowed: 141 (87th nationally, 10th SEC)

3rd down conversion defense: 34% (28th nationally, 5th SEC)

4th down conversion defense: 33.3% (13th nationally, 3rd SEC)

Sacks: 20 (13th nationally, 2nd SEC)

Tackles for loss: 58 (3rd nationally, 1st SEC)

Red zone defense: 65.4% (4th nationally, 2nd SEC)

Turnover +/-: +6 (11 giveaways, 17 takeaways; 12th nationally, 1st SEC)

The two-overtime shootout with Tennessee has skewed A&M's defensive totals, but the basic points are obvious: the Aggies are going to give up a lot of yards, especially through the air, but they're not going to give up a lot of points most of the time. They're also very aggressive and extremely opportunistic.

Having a healthy Myles Garrett should recharge the defense, that struggled last week when he wasn't on the field. He had a big game last season against Cam Robinson (5 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack), and another big game will be important for A&M's chances.

John Chavis-coached teams have always attempted to make Alabama one-dimensional by selling out to stop the run. They tried it last year and were good after the first quarter, but Derek Henry had gashed them severely by then. This year, they're better at linebacker and will try the same thing. Look for Richard Moore to play a lot more as the Aggies go to a base 4-3 and try to slow down the run.

The closest thing the Aggies have seen to Alabama's traditional offense is Arkansas, and they shut the running game down. The closest that they've seen with a mobile QB was Tennessee, and they didn't perform. The Aggies frequently were in position to stop Josh Dobbs for little gain or a loss, but their tackling was poor. That can't happen against Alabama.

A&M will probably also continue to bring pressure against the passing game in an effort to limit Hurts' time to throw and try to force him into mistakes. This is going to mean a lot of one-on-one coverage for Ridley and Stewart against Harvey and Willis, so the Aggie corners will have to play by far their best game of the year for the Aggies to pull this out.