Checking in on the temperatures in College Station after a beatdown at the hands of Alabama.

HEATING UP

Position battles. According to the Aggies coaching staff, no one’s starting job is safe after the 59-0 debacle in Tuscaloosa. “I don’t think there’s anything off the table from a position standpoint,” said head coach Kevin Sumlin. “I’m going to open up every position this week and I want to find 11 guys who want to go out there and fight and be physical and want to play. This week we’re going to have a lot of discussions and see who are the best 11 players who is going to go out there and compete for us,” offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said, echoing his head coach. That means everyone, from the talented offensive line to quarterback Kenny Hill, needs to prove their worth in practice over the next two weeks or there will be some major shakeups.

DRY ICE

The offense. The gaudy totals that Sumlin and Spavital’s attack are starting to look like smoke and mirrors. In the last four games, the Aggies have totaled just 28 points total in the first halves. That makes the 69 second half points over the last four weeks, mostly in garbage time, seem like empty numbers. The Aggies are going to have to find some way to not get blitzed early in the game if they want their offensive totals to mean something.

STIFF BREEZE

The tackling. That breeze is what the defense is feeling as they whiff on tackle after tackle. The issues with wrapping up ball carriers has been apparent for several weeks now, and it reached a nadir as Alabama ran over and past A&M’s defenders all day Saturday. It wasn’t just wrapping up that was the problem, though. The Aggies defense had trouble merely getting to Alabama’s rushers. The Crimson Tide picked up a whopping 177 of their 302 rushing yards in the game before contact. It was a common sight for T.J. Yeldon or Derrick Henry to be past the first down marker before a defender even came close.

KENNY CHILL

The sophomore quarterback’s buzz has significantly dwindled during Texas A&M’s three-game skid, to the point that outside observers are wondering if Kyle Allen needs to get a shot at quarterback. While Sumlin and Spavital didn’t specifically call out Hill when they said every position is now open, it’s the least confidence they’ve shown in the signal caller since naming him starter back in August. Hill still leads the SEC in passing yards, but in the two losses prior to Alabama he’d racked up large second half totals against soft defenses. He finally crumbled against the Crimson Tide, throwing for 138 yards and an interception. If Hill doesn’t bounce back after the bye, calls for Allen may get louder.