Key blunders help Tide roll over Aggies

After having trailed 13-0, Texas A&M (6-1, 4-1 SEC) had gotten off the mat and hit Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) back hard, taking a 14-13 lead in the third quarter. Alabama QB Jalen Hurts was flat on his back inside the Alabama 30, his 3rd down pass intended for Calvin Ridley thrown well out of bounds.

But a yellow flag was also on the turf next to Hurts, and with that, the dream fizzled.

The penalty was for roughing the passer on A&M's Shaan Washington, and kick-started the Crimson Tide offense. Alabama would take back the lead at the end of a 14 play, 77-yard drive, but the Aggies looked like they were going to bounce back yet again.

After Keith Ford shook off a tackler and ran for 12 yards to the Alabama 46, the Aggies looked like they were in business. Then disaster struck: an ill-timed quick out to Christian Kirk lost two yards, on first down, followed by a 14-yard sack of Knight to put the Aggies in 3rd and 26. The safe bet -- a handoff -- turned into calamity as Knight and Ford mishandled the exchange and Alabama's Jonathan Allen took advantage, picking up the ball and rumbling 30 yards for a score.

And, like that, the nation's top team had survived a scare and buried another opponent.

"You had five minutes that decided the game," A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. "We extended the drive with the roughing the passer, then extended the drive again with an offsides. Then you back it up with a fumble for a touchdown, in a game like this, it can't happen."

For a while, it looked like the five minutes that decided the game were going to be the first five, as Alabama came out and charged right down the field, picking up huge chunks of yards on the ground against the Aggie defense. But, as they have all year, the Aggie defense stiffened inside the 20 and forced Alabama to settle for a field goal after defensive tackle Kingsley Keke deflected a pass from Hurts (15-25, 164 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 94 yards rushing, 1 TD) on 2nd and goal and sacked him one play later.

The Aggies held onto the ball for only 6 plays and ended with Knight (14-31, 164 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) being sacked for the first of five times. The Crimson Tide moved the ball down the field just as swiftly, but had to settle for another Adam Griffith field goal after A&M stopped the drive at the 11-yard-line.

After Hurts found O.J. Howard for a 4-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to put Alabama up 13-0, it seemed like the game was already out of reach. But A&M, to the surprise of many of the 101,000-plus fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium, got back in the game. After Griffith missed a 29-yard field goal with 2:20 to go in the half, the Aggie offense suddenly went into high gear. Knight (13 carries, 24 net yards) hit Ricky Seals-Jones for a 25-yard completion to midfield, then kept it on a 27-yard run on 4th and 2 to get the Aggies inside the 10-yard-line. One play later, Knight hit Josh Reynolds (2 catches, 27 yards, 1 TD) in the front left corner of the end zone to pull the Aggies within 13-7 at the half.

A&M got the ball to start the third quarter and went right back to work. One play after hitting Jeremy Tabuyo for 33 yards on a 3rd and 12, Knight threw a beautiful 25-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk (9 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD) to give the Aggies the lead.

It would also be the last time they would threaten. With the Aggies struggling to keep the offense on the field, the defense finally caved in and gave up a 37-yard touchdown run to hurts to conclude the scoring.

"We made a couple critical errors to keep that drive alive," safety Justin Evans (4 tackles, 1 INT) said of the drive that gave Alabama the lead back. "If we'd gotten off the field, who knows what would have happened."

Afterwards, much of the conversation centered on whether this loss would start another mid-season collapse for the Aggies like last season's defeat at the hands of the Crimson Tide did. Several players dismissed the idea quickly.

"We just lost, but ain't no fussing or arguing in the locker room. We're a brotherhood, so we just have to be ready to grind on Monday," Evans said.

Offensive tackle Avery Gennesy agreed.

"We're a way different team from last year," he said. "We're working on making each other better."

Sumlin said the season was far from over for his team.

"My message in (the locker room) was that's a good football team we just played, and we've got everything in front of us," he said. "Anything can happen in this league, and everybody knows it. They've got some places to go, we've got some places. It's about us. It's not an arrogance thing; it's us taking care of our business."

Mentioning how his former team, Oklahoma, had rebounded from a loss to Texas last season to make the College Football Playoff, Knight said only a game and not the season was lost for the Aggies.

"That's a tough one to swallow with the season we're having, but that's the #1 team in the country and we've got to learn from it and go from there," he said. "One-loss teams have experienced everything they want to experience at the end of the year. All of our hopes, our dreams are right in front of us."

The Aggies had given up six sacks coming into the game. Alabama sacked Knight 5 times.

Alabama rushed for 287 yards; A&M ran for 114. That was more than 50 yards more than what Alabama had given up per game coming in.

Donovan Wilson was ejected for targeting in the first half after Claude George (3 tackles, 1 INT)'s interception. He will not be suspended for the first half of the New Mexico State game next week.

CB Alex Sezer and S Armani Watts were both injured and did not return Saturday. Noel Ellis and Larry Pryor replaced them.

The Aggies had 12 tackles for loss, led by Myles Garrett's 3.5 and Keke's 2. Alabama had 11, led by Ryan Anderson's 3.

Alabama had 451 yards of total offense; A&M had 278.