Jumbo Package: Bryce Young a “game time decision” vs. Aggies

Happy Friday, everyone. As you know, the Tide will host the Texas A&M Aggies tomorrow. Your previews:

So much will be made of the back-and-forth between Saban and Fisher, but that goes out the window at kickoff. Texas A&M faces a challenge keeping the Alabama offense in front considering the Crimson Tide have averaged eight yards per play or more since the 20-19 victory at Texas. If Young plays, then offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien may opt for the short passing game early, and Gibbs will be active in the screen game. You cannot make it a four-quarter game unless you take Alabama’s first punch, and the Crimson Tide has outscored opponents 83-6 in the first quarter. We’ll see if Texas A&M can absorb that real quick.

Final score: Alabama 42, Texas A&M 19

The Aggies have been one of the most disappointing teams in college football this season and considering how this game stacks up in Alabama’s favor, there’s little doubt that they’ll come away with an easy win. For the Aggies, being without their starting quarterback and top wide receiver is likely to haunt them when it comes to moving the ball, especially considering they already have one of football’s worst offenses. For Alabama, their insistence on running the ball should serve them well to open some space up for their wide receivers, and in a game in which they will have no trouble dominating on the ground, coming away with the easy win will be a piece of cake. Additionally, according to covers.com, the Aggies are 1-5 ATS in their last six road games, while the Crimson Tide are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games in October and 4-0 in their last four games on grass.

Prediction: Alabama (-24)

All the snipping between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher this offseason will quickly and easily be blown off – welcome to life in the SEC.

Young’s shoulder will be a storyline, but it’ll be the play of the Bama lines – this is where the pass rush shows up large – that takes over the game.

A&M will come up with a few nice drives, but when it has to generate a scoring drive in a big moment to make this interesting in the second half, it’s not going to be there.

Alabama 38, Texas A&M 16

No respect for the Aggies from the books this week after two losses and looking at an offense that can’t get out of neutral gear regardless of who plays quarterback. But there’s a decent front seven unit that can challenge the Tide’s backs on early downs and force the QB to win the game with his arm. But who’s arm? Bryce Young is questionable after a painful shoulder injury last week. ATS pick: Alabama by 17, doesn’t cover

Alabama is going to put points on the scoreboard regardless of the tricks A&M’s defense has up its sleeve, so it’ll be up to the offense to attempt to hang on. Both teams face similar injury issues with quarterbacks right now, but Alabama’s depth surpasses A&M’s.

Despite A&M making the tears roll last season, the Crimson Tide aren’t going to let the Aggies run over them and pull off a last-second win. They’re going to try and dominate all 60 minutes and A&M is going to crumble under the pressure.

Prediction: Alabama 42, Texas A&M 14

That last one is from the Dallas Morning News. Of course, who plays at QB for Alabama will have an impact on the final score. All indications are that it will be Jalen Milroe. Here’s what Nick Saban had to say on the issue over the past couple of days.

“There’s no real bad damage or anything like that in his shoulder, so this is not a long-term thing. but he still has some soreness,” Saban said on his radio show. “We’ll have to make a game-time decision before the game in pregame to see if he can throw the ball well enough to go out there and do his job.

“He has been able to practice some. Bryce is a great competitor. He’ll want to go out there and play the best he can. But sometimes you have to protect players from themselves because they’ve got to be able to go out there and create value for themselves and be healthy enough to do it the right way. He’s a sharp guy. I think he’ll know whether he can go out there and do it. We’ll be able to make a decision based on that. This is really and truly will be a pre-game decision. The way we’ve treated this from a medical standpoint is overuse would really set him back. ”

Both guys are doing a really good job. I thought Jalen did a good job in the game. Always a little better if you have a week to prepare the guy and he knows he’s gonna play. He’s had a good week so far this week. And Ty is a very talented guy, and he’s got a good understanding of the offense. So we’re pretty confident in him, as well. Even though he’s a young player that’s certainly in the developmental stages, he’s shown a lot of promise and progress throughout the year.

Emphasis mine. Saban is either pulling off a master troll here, or the decision to sit Bryce is all but made. Either way, Saban’s message to Bill O’Brien is undoubtedly going to be as clear as the one delivered by Richard Sherman after watching the Denver Broncos let Russ cook up an ugly loss last night.

No matter which QB plays, expect copious running of the football. Alabama’s defense has earned our trust this season, and Texas A&M will either be running out Haynes King who struggled enough to get benched, or five-star freshman Conner Weigman who has yet to throw his first college pass. In either case, expect Alabama to dominate the ball in this one and win somewhat ugly. Let’s call it 41-13.

Of course, that is merely my opinion. Vote and give us yours in the comments.

Speaking of yell practice, for the second time this season those overall clad douchebags denigrated an opponent, this time calling Mississippi State students “toothless morons,” before toting a country asswhipping by said opponent.

They’ve been doing this schtick for a long time, the internet has just really discovered it this year and the Aggies are the butt of the joke.

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.