Alabama football and Texas A&M defenses face similar challenges this week

Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher spoke the same three words on Monday, multiple times.

The repeat words had nothing to do with their feud from back in May. Saban wasn’t asked specifically about Fisher, and Fisher made clear to say, multiple times, they had moved on from the public back-and-forth/ That had been the message as far back as June during SEC spring meetings in Florida.

Instead, the two coaches uttered the same unrelated phrase: Day-to-day.

The starting quarterbacks for Alabama football and Texas A&M, Bryce Young and Max Johnson respectively, each suffered injuries this past Saturday during the games. Young's is related to his shoulder and Johnson's is his hand.

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Naturally, the topic came up almost immediately in each press conference.

“(Young is) going to be day-to-day when he can get back to throwing, and we'll just have to evaluate it day-to-day,” Saban said. “So I can't tell you if that's going to be today, tomorrow or the next day.”

Fisher, who spoke later in the same afternoon, echoed those words about Johnson.

“We’ll go day-to-day,” Fisher said. “Banged his hand. We’ll evaluate him as he goes. Day-to-day.”

These three words being uttered in both Tuscaloosa and College Station mean one thing: Both No. 1 Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) and Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1) have a similar challenge this week on Saturday (7 p.m., CBS) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

They don’t know for which quarterback they must prepare.

Instead of Young, it could be Jalen Milroe. Instead of Johnson, it could be Haynes King. With uncertainty at quarterback for both teams, each squad has to prepare for both.

"We've seen a little bit of both guys,” Saban said. “We don't really know the circumstances of the situation but we have to prepare for both guys. I mean, we do this a lot, especially when the skill set of the two guys is a little bit different. We have no way of knowing if (King) plays, if they're going to do something different with him.”

King won the quarterback battle in the preseason, but Johnson replaced him starting with the Miami game. King had struggled against Appalachian State, leading to his benching. He returned, though, after Johnson exited the Mississippi State loss with the hand injury. King went 6-for-13 for 49 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Before leaving the Mississippi State game with an injury, Johnson went 19-for-26 for 203 yards and one touchdown.

“We just have to prepare for what we know they've done in the past and be ready to adjust in the game if there's something different,” Saban said.

Neither Aggies quarterback has been elite this season, though. So Texas A&M has a tougher challenge in preparation for two quarterbacks than Alabama. Young potentially being unavailable is much different than Johnson maybe not playing.

Really, either quarterback playing for Alabama could be a problem for the Aggies, just in different ways. It's either the Heisman Trophy winner or a rocket-fast quarterback who ran for 91 yards and a touchdown over six carries.

Milroe helped Alabama win 49-26 over Arkansas once Young left the game in the second quarter.

Milroe didn’t do much damage to the Razorbacks through the air, only completing four passes on nine attempts with one touchdown. But Fisher knows of what Milroe is capable as a passer. Fisher once recruited the Texas native.

“Very athletic,” Fisher said. “Strong. Had a strong arm. Could throw the heck out of it. Came to our camp. Great body, great competitor. Did a heck of a job in camp.”

Now, Fisher’s team has to get ready in case they face that great competitor. Or maybe the Aggies will have to face Young.

And maybe Alabama will have to defend Johnson. Or perhaps it’s King.

Texas A&M and the Crimson Tide enter this matchup in much different spots for overall season trajectory, but similar uncertainty will loom over the week in Tuscaloosa and College Station.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football and Texas A&M face similar challenge this week