Alabama Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Texas A&M in Week 7

2. Play a clean game

Kyle Field is one of the rowdiest home fields in all of college football — more on that later. Games like this are tricky when you are one of the best programs in the country.

The Tide are the better team here, and the one thing you don’t want is to give the inferior squad any hope it can win the game or, even worse, have it close in the fourth quarter. If the Aggies win this game, or keep the game close, Alabama has to make sure they don’t contribute to the Aggies’ cause.

The Crimson Tide are such a big play offense they aren’t on the field long enough to commit a lot of penalties on offense, but this is the best defensive unit they’ve seen all season, so they might not have as many explosive plays in this game. As explosive as they are, you still want to avoid obvious downs. The fact they are so talented everywhere on offense makes you weary of the running game. You don’t want to put yourself in a position to obviously have to pass — that’s inefficient football.

If Alabama has an opportunity to put the Aggies away, they have to do it. Don’t escort the Aggies back into the game with turnovers and defensive penalties. The Aggies aren’t ready for primetime and the Crimson Tide must ensure they know that.