| NEWS CECIL HURT: Does a horror show await Alabama in Texas? - Tuscaloosa News

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The haunted houses are opening up in advance of Halloween, so let’s look at the criteria for a true Temple of Terror.

Is it really scary when the guy with the chainsaw and the hockey mask just wants to cut some mesquite and cook some brisket? When the zombies all smile and say “Howdy!” when you walk in? Can you really be frightened when the monsters never win?

That’s been the talking point about Kyle Field, home of the Texas A&M Aggies and road destination for the Alabama Crimson Tide this week. Certainly, the elements are there for some real fright. I respect the Corps of Cadets far too much to use the word “cult,” but they do all dress the same and chant some strange indecipherable incantations. The crowd, for all its friendliness, is vast and loud and right on top of the opposing teams. For those who haven’t been, the upper decks at the new Kyle Field are so steep that you feel like you are watching from a helicopter. There are even ghosts, at least per Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, a frequent visitor to College Station when he was a high school recruit from nearby Houston.

“The 12th Man is real,” Waddle confirmed on Monday.

For all that — and in an admittedly small sample size — Alabama has never lost in College Station. It’s been weird, sometimes. There was the Hurricane Bowl in 1988 with a fuming Jackie Sherrill waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting on an Alabama team that never arrived on a sunny Saturday. The game was eventually played in December and Alabama won fairly easily. There was the McCarron-Manziel shootout in 2013 when Mike Evans caught every Manziel pass except the one Vinnie Sunseri snagged and returned for a crucial touchdown. There was Kyle Allen, the current darling of the Carolina Panthers, throwing three pick-sixes against UA in 2015.

This Kyle Field mystery isn’t simply something some Alabama sports writer is using to stir the pot. Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler, ESPN power hitters, debated it last week in the wake of the Aggies laying an egg against Auburn. Chris Fallica cites a statistic that stings: Texas A&M is 2-9 since 2000 at Kyle Field as a ranked team vs a top 10 opponent. The local Texas media asked Jimbo Fisher about it at his Monday press briefing.

“I think this is one of the great venues in college football,” Fisher said in his million-word-a-minute style. “It’s as good as anywhere. Atmosphere ... electricity ... a phenomenal place. It’s our job to play well and make this place uncomfortable to play.”

Perhaps this is the week. If Alabama doesn’t do what it usually does — score fast and silence the crowd like it did at South Carolina — the Aggies will get loud. No one expects Alabama to lose but this game could fit the rare formula like South Carolina 2010 or Ole Miss 2014. If the other team scores early, and there are strange happenings on special teams, or turnovers, the crowd will be loud. This Crimson Tide also doesn’t have a lockdown defense if things start rolling the other way. Maybe this is the time that the hairy dude in the haunted corn maze really is a werewolf. Or maybe it’s just another Saturday that will leave the Aggies howling forlornly at the Texas moon as another ranked team slips away.
 
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