TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — Texas A&M blew a golden opportunity to beat a battered, one-dimensional Alabama team Saturday. And, in grand 2026 fashion, they blew it.

What could have been a win credited to every part of the game ended up as a loss that shares the same blame. A pick-six, a fumble on 4th down where the quarterback and center were not on the same page, a refusal to open things up when Marcel Reed showed life, holding calls negating big plays and a defense that knew Alabama had to throw and couldn’t stop it anyway. The ultra-conservative playcalls on offense and the absolutely mind-blowing decision to punt down 11 with 3:42 left is one of the worst I can remember.

So, what could have been a win — should have been a win — ends up in an 11-point loss.

Offense

Let’s start with the elephant (ironic, considering the opponent) in the room: the botched 4th and 1 play at their own 45. Here’s what was supposed to happen:

Nothing.

After the game, Coach Mike Elko said there was no play call. It the ball wasn’t supposed to be snapped. That’s why Marcel Reed wasn’t ready for it. He wasn’t supposed to be. That’s pretty emblematic of the season: not only can they not get everyone on the same page, the player who isn’t screws up huge.

To have your fifth-year center be the one who screws up is just sickening.

There were enough signs of life from the offense to feel somewhat better about it, but there were also plenty of problems. The snap that shouldn’t have been became 7 points. A pick six on Reed’s second throw was another 7.

There’s your ballgame.

I’m not saying they wouldn’t have lost anyway, but handing Alabama 14 points like that is egregious.

The really sad thing is that, after his first three passes, Reed was actually pretty good. He was 14-21 for 163 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for another. This was the best he’s looked this season, especially in the first half. And then Holmon Wiggins went away from what was working.

The Aggies ran the ball 40 times for less than 3 yards a carry. Even without sacks, they only ran for 3.5 yards a carry. They threw the ball just 21 times. I don’t want to hear about how much faith they have in Reed when he looks really good and they won’t turn him loose. There’s just no feel for the game from Wiggins.

A&M started it off running the ball well with KJ Edwards and then, according to Elko postgame, he got hurt. They got very little out of Jamarion Morrow (10 carries, 22 yards) and got more out of Rueben Owens, but he only got two carries for 17 yards. But, instead of adjusting, they just pounded away and got next to nothing.

I’m baffled by the playcalling. The Aggies looked more like Collin Klein’s offense in the first half, with more throws to the middle of the field and quick read RPOs. Then, after they got a field goal on the first drive of the second half, all that went away. They ran nine plays for 15 yards in the fourth quarter, when they went into that quarter with the lead.

The offensive line just doesn’t get it done. Lamont Rogers was called for two holds and struggled in pass protection; Tyree Adams was eaten alive by Fatuota Henry. Nabou was called for a hold as well as botching the 4th and 1 play. Rogers can you can almost excuse because that was his fourth start. There is no excuse for the other two.

I did like what they got out of Isaiah Horton today for the first time in a month. He made a couple of big catches on third down where he bodied the corner to make the play — exactly what he was supposed to do. He also had a nice 22-yard completion that was called back on one of Rogers’ holds. Aaron Gregory had a nice catch early on. Ashton Bethel-Roman did not play, which makes me wonder if that’s telling.

The first half, and the first drive of the second, were the most Collin Klein this offense has looked. It was the best they’ve played in SEC ball. And then everything went away.

A lot of people need to look at themselves and ask why.

Defense

Good news: the defense held Alabama to 64 yards of rushing at 2.4 yards a carry. They had a couple of sacks, picked off a pass and pressured Keelon Russell a bunch. They made Alabama, who was missing their starting center and left guard, totally one-dimensional.

Bad news: They couldn’t stop that other dimension. Embarrassingly so.

Elko said at the end of the first quarter that they needed to limit explosive plays. They didn’t. The explosives absolutely killed them. It’s what it as in 2024: nothing, nothing, sack or loss of yardage, 40 yards.

The same defense that held Missouri to very little through the air two weeks ago but gave up 270 yards on the ground was demolished by Rico Scott and Lotzien Brooks. Those two combined for 209 of Keelon Russell’s 311 passing yards.

The Aggie secondary gave up five passes of 25 yards or more and looked clueless on most of them. The first one, a 48-yarder to Scott, was a slant with Dalton Brooks blitzing. He went right past Dezz Ricks, who looked at him and then just stopped. Somebody blew an assignment, and, from the looks of it, it was Ricks.

The biggest play, to Scott, was against Bravion Rogers in coverage and, again, it looked like there was confusion at the line of scrimmage and that gave Scott enough separation to get deep. This was supposed to be an elite secondary, and it has more people running through than France’s defense in 1940.

Ricks was chewed up today. Julio Humphrey didn’t have it much better. And this is without Ryan Coleman-Williams playing. The safeties couldn’t cover the tight ends, especially in the red zone. It’s sad.

The run defense was strong. Alabama’s long run on the day was 13 yards and A&M controlled the line of scrimmage throughout. Landon Rink and DJ Sanders, especially, were impact players on the interior. Sam M’Pemba had a strong day off the edge, and Marco Jones applied a good bit of pressure. But Russell had the answers and, when the pressure didn’t get there, he ate them alive.

I do want to note one complete BS penalty, a pure Alabama special: the defensive hold called on Jordan Shaw in the second quarter. That was ridiculously soft. And it made three points into seven. Typical.

The Aggies held Alabama to one of seven third down conversions through three quarters. They converted their last five. That tells you all you need to know.

Special Teams

David Olano continues to be awesome. Tyler White boomed all of his kicks save one, a 29-yarder that became a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Coaching

I’ll give Mike Elko credit for keeping his team calm after a horrific start to the game, but I will never, ever understand why he punted with 3:42 left. Even if he believed in his defense, which he clearly (and mistakenly) did, the math just doesn’t work — especially if you have no faith in your quarterback to air it out.

I want to give Lyle Hemphill credit for being more aggressive and shutting down the Alabama running game. But when your secondary is busting more than Miami Vice and you’re a safeties coach, that makes it very difficult to do.

And I have no idea what on earth Wiggins was doing after a 6 minute, 22-second drive to start the second half. It was still a 3-point game. you can’t just go into a shell, and they absolutely did.

This game was a universal failure. The bye comes at a good time because it’s time to do some serious reflection and figure out what the heck this football team is supposed to be doing and what it’s good at, because they sure seemed to avoid those things for half the game today.