Will Texas A&M's Trevor Knight Snap an Incredible Nick Saban Streak?
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It’s a streak that goes beyond Nick Saban’s tenure at the University of Alabama, back to his previous job.
Through all 130 games, no opposing starting quarterback has notched two wins with Saban as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, plus nine more at LSU (139 total). SEC greats Matthew Stafford, Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel all got one and had a chance for two but came up short.
On Saturday it’ll be Trevor Knight’s turn when Texas A&M visits Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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“He’s an outstanding athlete,” Saban said. “He's as productive as anybody we've played against all year.”
While very few quarterbacks have had the chance to go for a second win against Saban, five to be exact (Nick Marshall and Chad Kelly the others), as most either saw their eligibility expired or Alabama wasn’t on their subsequent schedule. Knight’s opportunity is extremely unusual because he began his career playing in another conference.
As a redshirt freshman, he was the starting quarterback for Oklahoma in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, a 45-31 victory for the Sooners. He’s since transferred to Texas A&M, which saw an exodus of quarterbacks last season, and with him at the offensive helm, the Aggies are off to a 6-0 start and No. 6 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25.
“You can’t escape the idea that they’ve been extremely successful and at the forefront of college football for quite some time now,” Knight said about Alabama. “To beat a team like that you have to prepare the right way, and you have to execute the right way.”
He did with the Sooners, who were hungry for a win against the two-time reigning national champions coming off the Kick Six loss at Auburn. Knight was 32-for-44 for 348 yards with four touchdowns against one interception.
It was just his fifth career start, and at that point his best game had been at Kansas State, where he had gone 14-for-20 for 171 yards. Overall, he had nearly as many interceptions (four) as touchdown passes (five).
Few thought he was capable of being the Sugar Bowl MVP.
“Great game,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a night that I played well. Our offense played really well, and our whole team played really well.”
But Knight wasn’t able to duplicate his performance and eventually lost his starting job with the Sooners, which made the Alabama game and pop star Katy Perry saying, "Call me" on national television the lasting memories of him at Oklahoma. With Baker Mayfield ahead of him on the depth chart, it was either transfer to a place in need of a veteran quarterback or enjoy his last season from the sideline.
“I think I played really well at times after that game that no one really talks about, because I did play not so well at times as well,” Knight said. “There’s a lot of different things that can go into that. I think confidence is probably the most important. When you battle injuries and when you lose your spot, things like that, it’s a confidence-killer.”
Confidence is something he has no problem with now. Knight is 115-for-215 for 1,500 yards, with five interceptions and nine passing touchdowns. Even though his 121.26 pass-efficiency rating is 84th in the nation, his 502 rushing yards are more than what Alabama’s Jalen Hurts has tallied.
Combined with his nine rushing touchdowns, he’s beginning to get some Heisman Trophy attention. When asked during SEC media days if he thought he could play well enough to be in that discussion, Knight said, “Absolutely.”
| Year, School | Pass yards | Percent | TDs | Int. | Rating | Rushing | TDs |
| 2013 Oklahoma | 819 | 59.0 | 9 | 5 | 125.0 | 445 | 2 |
| 2014 Oklahoma | 2,300 | 56.6 | 14 | 12 | 124.8 | 339 | 5 |
| 2015 Oklahoma | 305 | 55.0 | 2 | 2 | 125.6 | 69 | 1 |
| 2016 Texas A&M | 1,500 | 53.5 | 9 | 5 | 121.3 | 502 | 9 |
“They have a lot of quarterback runs where he has made a lot of explosive plays, whether it's the quarterback draws or zone-read slipper plays, where he keeps the ball and has a blocker in front of him,” Saban said. “He's improved, and he passed the ball well when we played against him before, but that was supposed to be the issue, and he has done that extremely well this year for them, to create [a] kind of balance in their offense that makes it very difficult to defend.”
Consequently, Alabama isn’t even looking at the game film from the Sugar Bowl because the personnel and circumstances are so different. For example, for that game the Crimson Tide defense didn’t have to worry about Knight taking off out of the pocket, and he had just five carries for seven yards in the game.
It’s also a very different Alabama team as well, and not just because Saban has changed coordinators with Lane Kiffin on offense and Jeremy Pruitt on defense.
Senior Eddie Jackson, who as a cornerback had a game-high 10 tackles in the Sugar Bowl, is the only remaining starter but now plays at strong safety. The only other player who made a tackle that day who is still on the Crimson Tide roster is tight end O.J. Howard.
| Pos. | 2014 Sugar Bowl | 2016 Depth Chart |
| DE | Ed Stinson | Jonathan Allen |
| NG | Brandon Ivory | Da'Ron Payne |
| DE | Jeoffrey Pagan | Dalvin Tomlinson |
| Jack LB | (Denzel Devall) | Tim Williams |
| Sam LB | Adrian Hubbard | Ryan Anderson |
| Mike LB | Trey Depriest | Shaun Dion Hamilton |
| Will LB | C.J. Mosley | Reuben Foster |
| CB | Deion Belue | Marlon Humphrey |
| CB | Eddie Jackson | Anthony Averett |
| SS | Landon Collins | Eddie Jackson |
| FS | Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | Ronnie Harrison |
| Star DB | Jarrick Williams | Minkah Fitzpatrick |
This season’s Alabama defense has already scored eight touchdowns off interceptions and fumble returns, while the 2013 Crimson Tide only had three (plus one on a blocked punt). The 2016 version, which is faster, also has a significant edge when it comes to pass-rushers and applying pressure to the quarterback.
Plus, this time Knight won’t be facing them at a neutral site. Bryant-Denny Stadium last expanded to accommodate 101,000-plus fans in 2011, around the time the quarterbacks who arguably came closest to getting two wins as starters against Saban last visited.
“It was always a challenge going into there,” former LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee said. “The fans are always passionate. It was always hard. You have to really be on your game.”
During the 2010-11 seasons, Lee split time behind center with Jordan Jefferson, with the 2011 regular-season game at Alabama one of nine starts Lee made as a senior, dubbed by some as the “Game of the Century.”
LSU won, 9-6, as Lee helped give his team rare back-to-back wins against Saban. He played but didn’t start the 2010 victory and didn’t play in the final game of his career, the BCS Championship Game at the end of the 2011 season, a 21-0 victory for the Crimson Tide.
“It was an interesting time,” Lee said. “I played, started, came off the bench. Jordan and I were able to come in and make big plays at certain times. It was always a challenge playing Coach Saban, that’s for sure.”
Overall, Saban has lost just 18 games at Alabama, six of which were during his initial season in 2007. That’s when Stafford got his win, a 26-23 victory in overtime, only to see No. 3 Georgia get crushed at home a year later. Similarly, Tebow got his win in the 2008 SEC Championship Game only to lose in the rematch a year later.
The last starting quarterback to get two wins against Saban was LSU's Auburn’s Jason Campbell, who was on the winning end in 2002 and 2004 (but lost in 2003). At his previous stops, it only took took 17 games for an opposing quarterback to notch his second win against Saban at Michigan State, and 16 games at LSU.
In his four appearances against Alabama, Lee was 24-for-58 for 316 yards with one touchdown and seven interceptions—four in the 2008 game, a 27-21 loss in overtime. LSU went 2-2 in those games and hasn’t beaten Alabama since.
“They looked like they were never out of position,” Lee explained. “First of all, they were tremendous athletes and just really good ballplayers. He recruits so well and knows exactly what he wants. And they were always so well-coached in all three phases.”
When asked what kind of advice Lee might have for Knight, he said, “Oh man, golly. Preparation is key. Study film. Study each and every defensive player, their techniques, kind of what they do. He’s a very talented player, throws well. He’s a good athlete.”
Ask the other starting quarterbacks who came out on top against Saban—who, since 2008, are Brian Johnson, Stephen Garcia, Cam Newton, Bo Wallace and Cardale Jones—and they’ll also tell you that the other crucial element is just believing that it can be done.
After all, even with his five national titles, Saban’s only had one undefeated season, 2009.
“I think everybody having confidence in what the game plan is, and having confidence to play at a high level; not walking into a game scared, but walking into a game thinking we’re capable of beating anybody because of the preparation we put in, because we believe in the guy on either side of us,” Knight said.
“If everybody’s walking in the same direction and you play really well that way, you’re capable of beating anyone on any given Saturday.”
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.
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