While the whole world was watching, college football fans got what they wanted most, an Alabama defeat. Was this an overreaction? An Alabama loss was bound to happen sometime. Is Alabama done? After this shake-up, we get to see just what happens next for college football.  — Editor Ike Spry

By Roman Rickwood, College Football Enthusiast

Does anything unite a country more than Alabama losing a football game? I think not. This weekend, the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide snapped their 19-game winning streak when they lost on a game-winning field goal to Texas A&M at Kyle Field, in College Station, Texas. Coming into this game, Alabama was ranked 5-0 and the favorite to win the National Championship, along with having the then Heisman favorite Bryce Young under center. The Texas A&M Aggies up until this point were having a relatively unimpressive and uninspiring season, partly due to losing their starting quarterback early in the season and losing a home game to a much inferior opponent, Mississippi State. Coming into this game, Texas A&M was 3-2 and unranked, and Alabama was 5-0 and ranked #1. Alabama was favored by 18 points, and no one believed they could lose. However, the one thing that the Aggies had going for them was this being a home game at one of the biggest stadiums in not only college football but the country.

Kyle Field has a capacity of 102,733 screaming fans. Sometimes in sports, it does not matter how good you are; it is about what you can do under immense amounts of pressure. I would imagine 102,733 people willing you to a defeat would constitute immense pressure. The game started out all Aggies, and they closed out the first half leading 24-10. Immediately people turned on the game with hopes of seeing Alabama lose. However, many watched with skeptical eyes as it seems Alabama always finds a way to squeak out a win in these close games. But this time was different. While the Tide outscored A&M 28-17 in the 2nd half, it was not enough. The Aggies seemed to score when it mattered most, especially in the final seconds of the game when they needed to make a field goal. What do you know? They made it. Immediately hoards of students swarmed the field and began celebrating this historical victory, and of course with the influence of social media, the celebration continued across all fan bases, except in Alabama. They had been unseated as number one in the nation, and they lost to an unranked team for the first time since 2007. This is also the first time head coach Nick Saban had lost to his previous assistant coaches and coordinators who now work the A&M sidelines. He had a combined record of 24-0 against his old friends until now. Jimbo Fisher, the current head coach of Texas A&M, is the one “who finally beat the boss.” 

This was the cherry on top of a perfect day in college football; not only was this the third time a field had been rushed post game, but this had incredible implications for how teams would be ranked come Monday. (Alabama dropped down to #5.) It is incredible to see such a hullabaloo about a sports team doing the very natural thing in losing, but that is what you get when you have been on top for a whole decade. 

When superior teams play inferior teams, they are not supposed to lose. We often hear it called a fluke. I do not believe this was a fluke, and while I can not seem to land on a specific word or phrase to describe a loss of this magnitude; I did think of a few, a perfect storm, a football game, a stroke of bad luck, but how do you really describe the indescribable; you don’t. For me, I just like to keep it simple and call it . . . College Football.