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Alabama football: Tide, back at No. 1, will try to prevent Fisher from making history
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Hugh Freeze is a mostly forgettable name in Ole Miss football circles. But he does have 1 claim to fame from his scandal-marred 5-year tenure in Oxford that will never leave the memory banks of Alabama fans, even if it has been partly expunged from the record books.
Freeze is 1 of only 3 head coaches, and the last one, to beat a Nick Saban-coached team in back-to-back seasons. He did it in 2014, a 23-17 Rebels victory in Oxford, and in 2015, a 43-37 thriller in Tuscaloosa. Both Rebels teams were ranked, incidentally. Freeze almost did the unthinkable in 2016, but Saban and the Tide finally had enough, outlasting another ranked Ole Miss team, 48-43, in Oxford.
That was Freeze’s final season in what turned out to be a shameful chapter in Ole Miss football history in every way other than those 2 fall days in 2014 and 2015, when he did what Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher will be trying to pull off this Saturday in prime time at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Fisher will try to become the 4th coach, joining Freeze, Les Miles and Steve Spurrier, to do what most SEC coaches have had trouble doing once.
Sure, the dynamics of Saturday night’s showdown changed drastically over the weekend. The Crimson Tide took over the No. 1 ranking in both the AP and coaches’ polls again, after Georgia’s tightrope victory at Missouri knocked the Bulldogs from the top spot. While Bama rose to No. 1, Fisher’s previously 17th-ranked Aggies plunged out of both polls Sunday, a day after losing, 42-24, at Mississippi State.
But while we no longer have a matchup of ranked teams in Tuscaloosa, we still do have that hefty bit of history that Fisher can achieve if his Aggies can somehow get off the canvas and knock out the Tide as they did 1 year ago in College Station.
We’ll also have a healthy bit of symmetry at Bryant-Denny to go with Fisher’s shot at history. It will actually be almost 1 year ago to the day since Texas A&M took down Bama, 41-38, at a delirious Kyle Field.
The scenarios from 2021 to 2022 are strikingly similar, except for the location of the game, of course.
Last season, the teams met on Oct. 9 in prime time on CBS.
This year, they’ll clash on Oct. 8 in prime time on CBS.
Last season, Bama came into the matchup undefeated at 5-0 and ranked No. 1.
This season, the Tide will enter the showdown unbeaten at 5-0 and ranked No. 1.
Last season, the Aggies entered the game shaken at 3-2, coming off losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State that knocked them out of the rankings.
This season, you guessed it — Texas A&M is 3-2 and was just bounced from the polls by the same Bulldogs. The slight difference is that the Aggies beat Arkansas this time around before losing to Mississippi State, but you get the point.
And the brutally honest point is that history can only repeat itself, and that history can only be made by Coach Fisher, if Alabama somehow doesn’t meet the moment for one reason or another.
If Bryce Young somehow misses the game with his sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder.
If somehow Jalen Milroe, who was so poised on the road in relief of Young, wilts under the bright Bryant-Denny lights because he’s starting the game this time, not finishing it in garbage time for Young.
If somehow the Bama defense, which showed big-time force in the face of adversity in Fayetteville on Saturday, suffers the ultimate letdown against an Aggies offense that has put up 14, 17, 23 and 24 points, respectively, in its past 4 games.
And the most unexpected pitfall of all, if Saban somehow doesn’t remind his team about 1,000 times per day this week in practice that this same program — if not the same exact roster — put up 41 points on it and basically embarrassed it on national TV.
And if the Tide aren’t careful — if they don’t respect the game because the Aggies are suddenly unranked and maybe unraveling a bit again — then they are doomed to repeat history and allow Fisher to make his own.
Saban doesn’t want another Hugh Freeze on his hands, circa 2021 and 2022.
Saban recalls the ugly course that early conference loss to the Rebels set for the 2014 season, when the Tide ultimately fell short against eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Saban also recalls how the Tide were forced to be perfect — and were indeed perfect — after giving up 43 points to Ole Miss at home in the 2015 loss.
Mostly, Saban just wants to win.
He often looks like he’s in pain on the sideline even when things are going well because he hates losing that much. Whether it’s losing to a coach for the very first time or whether it’s a situation like this Saturday night, when history is beckoning, he wants no part of it.
Saban’s team just survived an emotional whirlwind over the weekend in Fayetteville, losing Young early in the 2nd quarter and then almost losing a 28-0 lead. Its backup quarterback, Milroe, came to the rescue, and its prized transfer running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, got Bama to the finish line with 2 TD runs of more than 70 yards in the 4th quarter.
There is no rightful reason that Alabama should lose to Texas A&M. But an emotional letdown from the emotional whirlwind wouldn’t be out of the question.
And a wounded Aggies team will need all the help it can get. It’s no accident that the point spread for Saturday’s game opened with Bama favored by as many as 23.5 points.
You would think the Tide would be just fine, especially at home, with or without the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
But cue that Twilight Zone music one more time, because the point spread last season in College Station was somewhere around 18 points for an Aggies team that limped into the prime-time slot like this one will be doing on Saturday.
Yes, there won’t be 106,815 maniacal fans at Kyle Field screaming for the Aggies like there were almost exactly a year earlier.
This time, the Aggies will have to do it at Bryant-Denny, where Fisher will take aim at some unlikely history.
Just like that guy Freeze did 7 years ago.
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.
