Three Things You Need to Know about Texas A&M
One month removed from blowing a 44-10 lead in their season opening loss to UCLA, the Texas A&M Aggies have steadied the ship by reeling off four consecutive victories including back-to-back wins in Southeastern Conference Play.
Coming into this weekend’s game, Alabama has won four straight games in the series including last year’s 33-14 victory in Tuscaloosa.
The two teams first played in 1941 with Alabama winning 29-21 in the Cotton Bowl. The Crimson Tide leads the overall series 7-2 and has won all three of their prior trips to College Station in 1988, 2013 and 2015.
Prior to Saturday’s game, find out the three things you need to know about the Texas A&M Aggies.
Home Sweet Home
The Texas A&M Aggies are enjoying a lengthy stretch of home games with a tiny amount of trips away from campus.
The Aggies will be playing all seven of their home games in a two-month stretch from September 9 until November 11. The only games that they don’t have a game on campus is next week at Florida and their win two weeks ago against Arkansas in Arlington, Texas.
After next week’s battle at Florida, Texas A&M does not leave the state of Texas until November 18 at Ole Miss.
Explosive Special Teams
Special teams play can be the deciding factor in a lot of close games.
For the Aggies, special teams catapulted them to their first SEC win of the year against Arkansas. Christian Kirk returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in their 50-43 win over the Razorbacks.
Kirk has been a threat returning kick as he leads the conference with an average of 30.2 yards per kickoff return. Despite a slow start to the season on punt returns, he also leads the NCAA in punt returns with an average of 21.4 yards per punt return.
At placekicker, Daniel LaCamera is tied for the first in the SEC converting nine of his 11 field goal attempts.
Christian Kirk
In addition to his play-making ability on special teams, Kirk is among the most consistent receivers in the SEC.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native leads the team in catches (23), receiving yards (264) and touchdowns receptions (4). Last season, he led the SEC in catches (83), receiving yards (928) and touchdown receptions (9).
Kirk has also been a consistent target in critical downs as the junior receiver has produced a first down or a touchdown on 15 of his 23 catches this season.