Now that previously top-ranked Alabama has fallen to Texas A&M and out of the BCS championship picture -- barring losses from two of the three undefeated teams ahead in the BCS standings, of course -- there’s only one thing left to do: dissect every little thing that went wrong.
Nick Saban‘s play calling near the A&M goal line in the final minutes of the game has been getting the most criticism. Positioned at the 6-yard line, Alabama attempted three passes to one run, the final pass being intercepted and all but officially sealing the 29-24 loss. A touchdown would have given the Tide the lead with under two minutes to play.
Many Alabama fans “expressed” on the Paul Finebaum Show this week that Saban should have elected to run the ball more in that series of downs. When asked this week, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley agreed.
“I would actually have run the ball for four straight times,” Bentley said.
The Tide had a decent ground game going against the Aggies, but Alabama was also playing from behind the entire time.
Not that Bentley probably cares too much about Saban’s play calling -- he was asked a question and he answered it -- but it’s worth noting that the Aggies were giving up nearly 250 passing yards a game and A.J. McCarron had already thrown for over 300 yards.