Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Texas A&M Aggies Betting Odds Preview, Prediction

The legend of Johnny Football was born last November when the Texas A&M Aggies, powered by their freshman quarterback, went into Tuscaloosa and beat No. 1 Alabama outright as two-touchdown underdogs.

In what might be the most anticipated rematch of this college football season, the Crimson Tide looks to avenge its only loss of last season when it rolls into College Station,Texas, to take on Johnny Manziel and his Aggies on Saturday afternoon.

Time: Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET

Place: Kyle Field at College Station, Texas

TV: CBS

Spread: Alabama by 7.5 points, according OddsShark.com.

While the Tide closed as a 13.5-point favorite a year ago, they are hovering around 7.5-point favorites for this road matchup. A quick scan through the OddsShark.com college football database reveals that the Aggies have been home underdogs of seven points or more 11 times since 1998.

They are 8-2-1 against the spread in those games. The total was 62 at press time.

Both teams, as expected, come into this game unbeaten. The Tide opened two weeks ago with a 35-10 victory over Virginia Tech, covering as 21-point favorites, then took last week off. Meanwhile, the Aggies racked up a total of 117 points in beating Rice and Sam Houston State.

Texas A&M couldn't cover the 28-point spread against the Owls, in part because Manziel sat out the first half, but squeaked out a cover last week against Sam Houston State as 35-point chalk.

Last year, the Aggies pulled one of the great shockers of the season, beating the defending and eventual national champion Crimson Tide on Alabama's home field, 29-24. Texas A&M jumped out to a 20-0 first-quarter lead and then held on from there.

Manziel went 24-for-31 passing for 253 yards and two scores, ran for 92 yards and basically won the Heisman Trophy that day.

Alabama players might say the right things to the media this week, but you just know they'd love nothing more than to go into College Station and shove a couple of footballs down Johnny's throat.

Texas A&M, on the other hand, is playing with the burden of trying to prove that last year's outcome wasn't a fluke.

The Tide went 3-1 against the spread as favorites on the road last year while the Aggies were 0-1 against the spread as home dogs. 

Prediction: Alabama, 42-28, courtesy of OddsShark.com NCAA computer

Stats, trends, odds are aggregated from Odds Shark. Follow them on Twitter