Mix up the passing targets<\/h3>\n
The Crimson Tide are ranked third in the nation in points per game (51.8), total yards per game (555), and passing yards per game (380.6). Tagovailoa continues to pass at a high velocity by passing for 1,718 yards, 23 touchdowns, and no interceptions on 113 completions (out of 148 attempts). The other side of the high-power passing game can be complementary to their elite wide receiver corps. Last week against Ole Miss, wide receiver DeVonta Smith<\/a><\/strong> caught 11 receptions for 274 yards and five touchdowns. Due to his performance, Smith was added to the Fred Biletnikoff Award Watch List. This was the award that wide receiver Jerry Jeudy<\/a><\/strong> won last season. Smith, Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III<\/a><\/strong>, and Jaylen Waddle<\/a><\/strong> have all contributed to the passing game. It can be very easy for Tagovailoa to succeed very well in an offense that circulates around his passing ability.<\/p>\n The Tide will be playing a more established defense in Texas A&M than Alabama\u2019s previous opponents in Duke, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. The Aggies\u2019 defense ranks 20th<\/sup> in points allowed per game (17.8), 23rd<\/sup> in total yards allowed per game (300), 31st<\/sup> in passing yards allowed per game (191.4), and 29th<\/sup> in rushing yards allowed per game (108.4). Despite being ranked within or near the top-25 in major defensive statistics, the Aggies rank 47th<\/sup> in defensive efficiency (59.6). Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian can create heavy momentum by mixing up the passing schemes to throw off the Aggies. Creating multiple screen scenarios to Smith, Jeudy, and Ruggs will cause a quick start. The Tide mixed their alignment early in the season by putting Jeudy (normally an outside receiver) as a slot receiver. Jeudy still often ran deep routes as a slot receiver.<\/p>\n Another part of Tagovailoa being the center of the Tide\u2019s offense is the liability his absence will bring. Last year, the Tide\u2019s offensive performance suffered due to the knee injury he suffered a little over halfway through the season. The Tide\u2019s offensive line has given up 10 sacks in five games this season. Even though the Aggies defense has only accounted for eight sacks this season, they are efficient in getting to and pressuring the quarterback. The Tide\u2019s offensive line has shuffled some players around due to injuries. One of them is center Chris Owens, who is questionable to play against the Aggies due to a knee injury. Players to potentially replace Owens as the starting center is Landon Dickerson, who is the starting right guard.<\/p>\n An effective dual-threat quarterback has been kryptonite to Alabama\u2019s defense for as long as Saban has been the head coach. Last game, the Tide encountered a few problems trying to stop Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee<\/a><\/strong> in a surprising start. Alabama\u2019s defense will be more prepared to stop junior quarterback Kellen Mond<\/a><\/strong>. Last season, Mond passed for 196 yards, one touchdown, and one interception on 16 completions (out of 33 attempts). He was the team\u2019s rushing leader with 98 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. Alabama\u2019s pass rushers will need to be more efficient and smart dealing with a more experienced and more determined Mond. Tide outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings<\/a><\/strong> has accounted for 29 total tackles, five tackles for loss, and three sacks. He is the main contributor in reading main keys during a play such as a quarterback scrambling.<\/p>\n Senior defensive end Raekwon Davis<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 role has been defined as the main run-stopper for the Tide\u2019s defense. This includes being double-teamed often allowing an extra defender to be free to stop the key offensive player. Davis is fourth on the Tide\u2019s defense in total tackles accounted for with 25 because of his stout ability to penetrate the backfield. Linebackers Shane Lee<\/a><\/strong> and Christian Harris<\/a><\/strong> will be the main signal callers on defense as they will watch out for key plays to indicate on RPO (run-pass-option) plays. Safety Xavier McKinney<\/a><\/strong> is the main leader on the defense and is the defender who reacts the quickest. He leads the defense in total tackles accounted (41) and solo tackles (26).<\/p>\n Main Photo Credit:<\/p>\n #1 Alabama Prepares for Match-up at #24 Texas A&M There are two things that shouldn\u2019t fool anyone concerning #24 Texas A&M Aggies (3-2) and #1 Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0). The first is that the Aggies’ two losses make them a less dangerous team. Their two losses were at home to #12 Auburn and at #1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2349,"featured_media":24771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2,3],"tags":[4649,35,3333,5015,3206,1756,1493,3215,3205,3212],"class_list":["post-24759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-sec","tag-2019-college-football","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-anfernee-jennings","tag-chris-owens","tag-devonta-smith","tag-jerry-jeudy","tag-kellen-mond","tag-raekwon-davis","tag-tua-tagovailoa","tag-xavier-mckinney"],"modified_by":"Lauren Beasley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Protect Tua from the pass rush<\/h3>\n
The defense needs to terrorize and contain Kellen Monday<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/gettyimages-1178877746-594x594.jpg\")