Texas A&M and Ole Miss will square off in Oxford on Saturday in one of Week 8’s top SEC matchups.
As two of the three SEC West teams with one conference loss and a game with unbeaten LSU still on the schedule, each of these teams has their eyes on the possibility of playing for a SEC Championship at the end of the season.
So as we try to decipher who might come away with a win in this contest, we turn our attention to common opponents. And through seven weeks, there has been just one: Alabama.
The Rebels won a 43-37 slugfest in Tuscaloosa back in Week 3, while Texas A&M just dropped its game with the Crimson Tide 41-23 at Kyle Field last Saturday.
Texas A&M and Ole Miss rank as the top two passing offenses in the league, so we can expect that to be a focus for both teams on Saturday.
Let’s look at how each team fared against the Crimson Tide in three other key areas of the game:
Stopping the running game on defense
Alabama has one of the league’s top rushing attacks, averaging 198.7 yards per game on the ground. Derrick Henry ranks second in the league, behind only LSU’s Leonard Fournette, in terms of individual rushing yards.
Ole Miss: By maintaining a lead for most of the evening, the Rebels defense was able to force Alabama to throw the ball 58 times, which was very uncharacteristic for a Nick Saban team. That still didn’t eliminate the effectiveness of the Crimson Tide ground game, which totaled 215 yards on 42 attempts. Ole Miss allowed two rushing touchdowns and 5.1 yards per rushing attempt. Derrick Henry ran for 127 yards on 23 carries.
Texas A&M: From the opening drive of the game moving forward, Alabama was determined to run the ball against the Aggies. The strategy worked, with Derrick Henry topping 100 yards rushing before the end of the first quarter, and accumulating 178 yards by half on his way to a 236-yard game. The final total for the Crimson Tide was 258 yards rushing on 45 carries, which worked out to 5.7 yards per attempt.
Establishing the running game on offense
Alabama leads the SEC and ranks third in the FBS when it comes to defending the run. The Crimson Tide defense has allowed just 70.9 yards rushing per game and only three rushing touchdowns all season.
Ole Miss: Part of the reason that this game had such a wild ending was that the Rebels were seemingly unable to put away the Crimson Tide by running the football in the second half. Ole Miss did score two touchdowns on the ground, which accounts for all but one of the rushing touchdowns the Crimson Tide has allowed this season, but was still only able to muster 92 yards rushing on 32 carries. RB Jordan Wilkins had the team high with 39 yards, and also had the team’s longest run of the day for 18 yards.
Texas A&M: Finding balance on offense with the emergence of RB Tra Carson has been one of the reasons Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin was optimistic that the Aggies may have been able to beat Alabama this season. Unfortunately, Texas A&M was never able to establish that running game and became one-dimensional against a Crimson Tide defense that had six sacks and four interceptions. The Aggies finished with just 32 yards on 25 rush attempts. Carson led the way with 46 yards, while the rest of the team accumulated minus-14 yards.
Winning the turnover battle
Alabama is tied for third in the SEC with a plus-3 turnover margin, trailing only Florida and LSU.
It’s this comparison that’s the chief reason why Ole Miss was able to beat Alabama on the road, while Texas A&m fell victim to the Crimson Tide at home. The turnover disparity is huge.
Ole Miss: The Rebels forced Alabama errors early and often, winning the turnover battle by a startling 5-0 count. Ole Miss intercepted Alabama quarterbacks three times and the Rebels recovered two fumbles while playing turnover-free ball themselves. Ole Miss scored 24 points off turnovers, which has to be considered the top reason for its 43-37 win in hostile territory.
Texas A&M: For as well as Ole Miss did against Alabama in the turnover department, the Aggies did the exact opposite. Texas A&M lost the turnover battle 4-1, with three of its four interceptions thrown returned for Crimson Tide touchdowns. Alabama scored 24 points off turnovers compared to just seven for the Aggies, and that 17-point discrepancy loomed large in a game that was determined by an 18-point differential.
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
