Can Jimbo Fisher and Bobby Petrino help Texas A&M beat Alabama football?

Alabama football was on the ropes. With three seconds left in the October contest in Tuscaloosa, Texas A&M had the ball on the Crimson Tide’s two-yard line with a chance to score an upset.

Then, the Aggies threw the ball short of the goal line, a play that likely wouldn’t have scored even if it was complete. After the game, Alabama players said TAMU head coach Jimbo Fisher had accidentally tipped the final play call.

Former Aggie Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel described the play as “one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in my life,” but it wasn’t Texas A&M’s only offensive problem last season as it finished last in the SEC West. During the offseason, Fisher made a change, surrendering the keys of his offense to Bobby Petrino.

At least partially. At SEC Media Days on Monday, the top Aggie was non-committal on who is actually calling plays.

“Have you ever been in any staff room that didn’t have arguments or disagreements?” Fisher asked. “Every coaching staff in America has arguments or disagreements. But no, I’m the boss, we’re the boss, we’ll deal with it at the end of the day, but you listen to everybody’s opinion.”

Petrino, who joined after a brief stint as offensive coordinator at UNLV, has plenty of head coaching experience at Arkansas, Western Kentucky and Louisville among other stops. He’s known as a big personality, just like Fisher.

Whether the two can coexist remains a question. Wide receiver Ainias Smith said the TAMU staff trusts each other enough to make things work.

“Coach (Fisher) has his ways of doing things, but that’s anybody that’s been running their system for the past however long he knows his system,” Smith said. “I know that it works, everybody in the world knows that it works…

I don’t think it’s going to be too hard for him though, just because he has a staff and people around him that he trusts. He trusts us, the leaders of the team, and we have to trust them and that’s really the only way it will work is if we have trust in each other.”

Texas A&M finished 93rd nationally in total offense last season. That didn’t cut it in the SEC, and the Aggies finished last in the west division after being widely lauded before the season.

Fisher will hope the answer lies with Petrino.

“Bobby was hired for a reason,” Fisher said. “He’s a tremendous coach, a tremendous guy, a tremendous football find, tremendous recruiter. He’s done a tremendous job recruiting since he’s been here.”

He also acknowledged Petrino will have a huge role in shaping the offense.

“He’ll call a lot of it, hopefully he’ll call the game,” Fisher said. “We’ll have suggestions on things we do, whether it’s offense, defense, every coach is always involved. It’s a more collective thing than people want to give it room for.”

Fisher said the new offense was going to feature “everything” scheme-wise. According to Smith, the key to learning it was to return to his freshman mindset, taking notes and soaking up information.

He also said his new coordinator could lead to a more high-flying attack.

“The biggest difference is how (many) explosive plays we’re going to have,” Smith said. “Whether it’s from a long pass or a short pass, I believe we’re going to turn one-yard catches into 75-yard touchdowns, stuff like that, so I believe it’s gonna be very exciting.”

Texas A&M opens the season Sept. 2 against New Mexico. The Aggies get another crack at the Crimson Tide on Oct. 7 and will face Auburn Sept. 23.