ESPN Analytics is ignoring recent results and instead going with the home team on Wednesday night when Texas A&M heads to Tuscaloosa for a showdown against Alabama.
The SEC showdown will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network, and right now the visiting team just happens to be the talk of the conference, with the Aggies sitting on top of the league standings at 7-1. Texas A&M has a 17-4 overall record to go with it, and the Aggies come into Wednesday’s matchup on a 4-game win streak that was capped by Saturday’s blowout road victory over Georgia.
Despite all of that, there is still no number sitting next to Texas A&M’s name, with the Aggies sitting just outside Monday’s new AP Poll. Texas A&M was first in the “Others receiving votes” category with 83, so logic would say if the Aggies win at Alabama and then beat Florida at home on Saturday night, they’ll be firmly in the rankings. But that’s a long way and a lot of hard work away, and first Texas A&M will have to deal with an angry Alabama team in a very hostile environment.
That’s because the Crimson Tide are coming off a beatdown loss at Florida on Sunday that saw them get steamrolled in the second half in a highly anticipated matchup. The ugly final score was 100-77, and now Nate Oats’s team will try to pick up the pieces on Wednesday while trying to bring the Aggies back down to earth a bit.
The loss in Gainesville dropped Bama to just 4-4 in the SEC, to go with a 14-7 overall record, and it also dropped the Tide out of the new AP Poll after they were ranked 23rd last week. Alabama happens to be right behind Texas A&M now in that “Others receiving votes” category, with 48, as both teams that sit just outside the poll will try to take a step toward being ranked next week.
That ESPN BPI believes that Bama has a better chance to accomplish that on Wednesday night, giving the Tide a 68.3% chance to rebound at home and hand the Aggies that 2nd SEC loss.
Both teams will be motivated for different reasons, as Texas A&M tries to again prove to its doubters that it’s for real this season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
