After shaky few minutes in third quarter, Alabama takes control

For a moment Saturday, things looked shaky. After controlling – and at times dominating – Texas A&M the entire game, suddenly a few plays put No. 1 Alabama’s perfect season in peril.

The Crimson Tide actually trailed the Aggies by a point early in the second half. It might not have been earth-shattering news. After all, the Aggies came into Bryant-Denny Stadium undefeated themselves and ranked No. 6 in the country. Trailing by a single point just two minutes into the third quarter isn’t exactly a crisis.

But it was the closest the Crimson Tide had come to one since they trailed Ole Miss 24-17 at halftime. It certainly had to make those who took Alabama and gave the 17 points from the odds-makers a bit nervous.

But almost just as suddenly as it had lost the momentum, Alabama returned to being its same, dominant and seemingly invincible self. A touchdown drive, aided by a careless roughing-the-passer penalty, and yet another defensive score restored order and left the Crimson Tide a 33-14 winner.

“I thought it was great competitive character on their part to persevere,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban, “Scoring on offense, scoring on defense, controlling the ball, playing better on defense.”

That swing in the third quarter may prove to be a metaphor for this entire season. That may have been the best chance anyone will have to beat the Tide. Sure, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn remain on the SEC schedule. Auburn especially looks like a suddenly dangerous team. Then there’s the SEC Championship Game, almost assuredly against Tennessee or Florida.

Alabama, though, just keeps getting better week after week. So thorough was this performance Saturday that even the perfectionist himself could find little to complain about in his post-game press conference. Sure, Saban did say “there are many, many things that we need to improve on as a team.”

Yet also expressed his pleasure with this team’s focus and fight.

“I am proud of the improvement that this team has made, the way they’ve responded, the way they’ve competed all year long,” Saban said. “This has been a tough stretch for us. We’ve had four really tough games. They’ve done a good job of playing with consistency. I think that’s the No. 1 think that we always strive for.”

That stretch began with a 34-6 win over Kentucky, then continued with dominating road wins over Arkansas 40-30 and Tennessee 49-10.

Texas A&M was to be the stiffest challenge yet. Quarterback Trevor Knight had a career day against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl as a freshman at Oklahoma. The Aggies were the most complete team Bama has faced all season.

And yet, the Crimson Tide withstood the best the Aggies could throw at them. By the fourth quarter, Texas A&M looked like just another overmatched victim of this relentless Alabama machine. Texas A&M’s last five possessions after taking a 14-13 lead went like this:

▪  Four plays, 16 yards, punt

▪  Six plays, minus-four yards, fumble returned by Jonathan Allen for a touchdown

▪  Three plays, minus-six yards, punt

▪  Seven plays, 28 yards, turnover on downs

▪  Ten plays, 18 yards, turnover on downs

That last Aggie possession was extended by an offsides penalty after a fourth down stop.

The only downer – and it was a big one – was losing safety and punt returner Eddie Jackson for the rest of his college career when he suffered a fractured leg.

“Eddie was a fantastic player for us. A great leader. I think an All-America player as a safety, at least in my book,” Saban said. “We’re certainly going to miss him. What a great player, what a great competitor, what a great guy to have in this program for the time that he’s been here. He’s done a fantastic job for us. Just sick for him and his family and hated that. It’s one of the things about sports, all sports, that we all have to deal with sometimes.”

Now comes a much needed week off before traveling to LSU.

“I want the players to get some rest, relax, get healthy – but can’t be relieved,” Saban said. “Can’t be relieved that we won this game because there’s a big difference between rest and relaxing, working to improve and being relieved. We’ve got lots of good games against lots of good teams when we start back playing again that can have a tremendous impact on what kind of season that we have. So we have to continue to be able to persevere as a team.”

There’s a pretty good chance of that happening.

This story was originally published October 22, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "After shaky few minutes in third quarter, Alabama takes control."