The college football season doesn't usually heat up until the weather gets cold, but this year the most anticipated game on the schedule is happening in Week 3 as the Alabama Crimson Tide head to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies and quarterback Johnny Manziel and naturally ESPN's College GameDay crew will be broadcasting from there at 9 am.
Chris Fowler will be hosting the coverage with the usual crew of Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard and the game will be on in the afternoon on CBS, which shows how big of a game this is, since ESPN and the game crew will be broadcasting from College Station. Alabama comes in after losing to the Aggies last season, their only defeat, and now Nick Saban and company are looking for revenge in a matchup of top 10 teams.
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The Crimson Tide remain the number one ranked team in the nation after defeating Virginia Tech in their first game of the season, while the Aggies are ranked sixth after defeating Rice and Sam Houston State. Last season Manziel helped seal his cult status by handing Alabama their first defeat and now he will get the chance to play them again, something Saban and the Tide have likely been looking forward to for a year. The Aggies fans are proud of their 12th man status and that likely will be a factor that comes into play on Saturday, but Alabama is no stranger to playing games in loud stadiums after winning so many SEC championships and national titles.
Manziel obviously has had some attention on him this year with his autograph scandal, but after serving a first half suspension against Rice, he is ready to try and breakout again against Alabama. Last season Manziel passed for 253 yards and had over 300 total yards against the Tide and he had two passing touchdowns to go along with it. Alabama has a number of new players on both sides of the ball, while the Aggies have an overhauled offensive line after losing Luke Joeckel to the NFL.
Alabama has experience on their side with players like AJ McCarron and TJ Yeldon and the Crimson Tide also has the advantage at wide receiver with Amari Cooper, especially after Manziel lost his best target in Ryan Swope. Manziel hasn't been off to as great a start as last season and the Aggies defense has also given up plenty of rushing yards to two lesser opponents, meaning Yeldon could be in for a big day after rushing for over 70 yards in the first game.
Alabama didn't look great but got things done in their first game with a 35-10 victory over Virginia Tech and after playing the Aggies they will have an easier game against Colorado State before getting back into the SEC schedule with Ole Miss. After playing Georgia State, Alabama will play Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee before matchup at home against LSU. The end of the season has tough road games with Mississippi State and Auburn and if the Crimson Ride get past the Aggies they have a good chance of running the table.
