Can Texas A&M Defeat Nick Saban? It's All On Jimbo Fisher's Shoulders

What does a loss on Saturday mean for Alabama's Nick Saban? Another year where the Crimson Tide doesn't make the College Football Playoff? Another season without a national championship? 

Cool. Saban has bought a timeshare over the past decade in the Final Four and has seven rings to his name. Will he ever surpass Bear Bryant for titles in Tuscaloosa? Maybe next year. 

Saban's already the true King of college football. Even if he were to trade in his whistle for a morning of Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies and a cup of coffee, no one would question it. 

There's no pressure on Saban and No. 11 Alabama (4-1, 2-0 SEC) entering Kyle Field come Saturday at 2:30 p.m. 

The same can't be said for Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher. 

The Aggies (4-1, 2-0 SEC) are built to win conference titles, perhaps even national ones, not finish with eight wins and call it a good season. Fisher has created a program riddled with five-star talent and future players who'll play on Sundays. 

Yet the formula hasn't changed: an upset win once every blue moon, a souring loss to a lesser opponent, and a bowl game that doesn't carry the same ambiance as the standard set in College Station. 

Plenty have questioned Fisher's hot seat status entering the year, even after AD Ross Bojrk confirmed he's sitting on a bag of ice. Oil money can buy coaches and send them packing without a second glance, but $77 million doesn't grow in the ground overnight. 

These Aggies are different, though. It's clear just looking at the resurge of offensive production headlined by new coordinator Bobby Petrino. The defense ranks top-two in sacks, tackles for loss and total yards allowed among SEC schools. And if there was a time to buy stock in a program while the market price was low, do it before Saturday's fourth quarter. 

But Fisher's not out of the woods yet. There are still six games left where regression could set in, and the net worth of the program could reach market lows where it's costing you money for little profit. 

There's a way to turn Fisher's hot seat dial to Ainais Smith sub-zero level. 

It's beating Saban — again. And yes, his Aggies this year can send Alabama packing. 

If fans are holding out hope for Fisher to be the right man for the job, keep pushing the 2021 narrative. The year is different, but the storyline isn't. 

A&M remaining unranked heading into an early October showdown against the six-time national champion roster built under Saban? Check. 

The starting quarterback suffering a season-ending injury in September? Check. 

A defense leading nearly every stat line in conference play? Yep, cross that off the list, too. 

Fisher was the first assistant to give Saban a piece of his own medicine. He can now be the inaugural assistant to beat the G.O.A.T. twice. 

Texas' Steve Sarkisian and Georgia's Kirby Smart have taken a page from the Fisher handbook, but they have also suffered defeat at Saban's hands in recent years. 

The hype around the SEC's most underappreciated rivalry has grown in recent years, especially with an uptick in offseason drama. Remember when Saban lost to Fisher in the 2022 recruiting rankings and proclaimed that A&M bought its roster? 

Remember Fisher responded with the "some people think they're God" proclamation? 

College football fans remember, and it's backfired on Fisher despite keeping the games close. 

The Aggies aren't near spitting distance of Alabama in the SEC long-term power rankings. They haven't won a national title in nearly a century, let alone post a double-digit win season under Fisher in the six years he's been on campus. 

Even Lane Kiffin has gotten to 10 wins with a loss to Alabama on the docket faster in Oxford, and the two schools have nearly identical schedules. 

But A&M and Alabama have kept things interesting the past two years. Fans rushed Kyle Field in a 41-38 upset two years ago thanks to a game-tying Smith touchdown and Seth Small field goal. A different call with two seconds to go in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and perhaps it's a 26-24 victory for the Aggies rather than a 24-20 defeat. 

And Alabama has brought out the best in Fisher and the Ags. Remember that 2020 blowout loss in Week 2? That served as motivation the rest of the way for the Aggies to go on an eight-game win streak and eventual top-five finish in the polls.

Fans, however, grow weary of the "nearly" persona these days. They want instantaneous gratification and a close call against eventual national champion Clemson in 2018 no longer holds weight.

Neither does finishing No. 5 in the College Football Playoff polls back in 2020.

The Aggies won't play Alabama in 2024, marking this as potentially Fisher's last chance to show his former boss he's built something without his help. What a shame the bureaucrats that control our sport do not view a Saturday showdown filled with drama ignited by spite between two stubborn West Virginians as an annual must-see television event. 

A win for Alabama ceases all obituaries that the dynasty window is shut. Fans will reanoint St. Nick as college football's finest, and apology letters will start flooding into the Mal Moore Athletic Facility come Monday morning. 

A win for A&M keeps hope alive for a postseason berth. It makes the Aggies the team to beat from the West, at least for the time being. And it puts out the flame surrounding Fisher's keester a bit longer. 

The game in recent years has profiled those calling the shots on the sidelines as much as the play on the field. In the end, it's not about who comes out with the win, though. 

A loss for Saban? Better luck next time. 

A loss for Fisher? Same old Jimbo.