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Alabama walks off dejected after during the second half of the Alabama vs UTAM NCAA football game, Saturday, November 10, 2012, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

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Nick Saban

waited until the very end of his SEC Media Days opening statement to briefly mention a game that's been discussed and anticipated by college football fans across the country ever since the evening of Nov. 10, 2012.

It was essentially a footnote that served as a transition into a question-and-answer session. At this stage of the Alabama coach's whirlwind tour of interviews, it never came up again.

"Obviously, we start out with a very difficult opening schedule," Saban said. "Virginia Tech has been a 10-win team almost every year. That's going to be a very challenging game for us to open with in Atlanta."

No, not that game.

"And then to go play the team that beat us last year, Texas A&M, on the road in the second game of the season, obviously going to be very challenging," he said. "Not to overlook the rest of the competition in our division, as well as in our league."

And that was it.

Saban and Alabama's players made it clear throughout their time in front of the cameras that they had more on their mind than the Aggies, but there was no disputing the significance of the early-season showdown in College Station.

"We see it on TV every day that they beat us," right guard

Anthony Steen

said. "Virginia Tech comes first. Once that switch comes on for A&M, I promise you we're going to be pumped."

It was at that point of the day when Steen needed to clarify the significance -- or lack thereof -- behind a photo of Alabama's new weight room that

. The photo and accompanying caption indicated that a Texas A&M logo hung at each station as a replay of last year's 29-24 upset loss played on the weight room's various flat-screen TVs.

Steen downplayed the significance of the gesture and said it wasn't unique to the Aggies.

"We do it every now and then," Steen said. "Depends on what week we'll be playing. This week we'll be playing LSU and watch something on them. It's just a little ritual thing we do."

With Heisman trophy winning quarterback

Johnny Manziel

leading the way, Texas A&M robbed the Crimson Tide of a perfect 2012 season by jumping on it for 20 first-quarter points and playing tight goal-line defense at the end to hang on for a dramatic victory. The loss -- for seven days, at least -- seemingly put Alabama's hopes of returning to the BCS National Championship out of its own control.

Once Alabama regained that control thanks to losses by Kansas State and Oregon, numerous players cited the setback as a much-needed wake-up call.

"I take full responsibility because that's how we lost the two games the last two years," linebacker

C.J. Mosley

said, also referencing Alabama's 2011 overtime loss to LSU. "We kind of got complacent and didn't buy into the little things and we lost the game. After that we kind of started back up. For us to go undefeated we have to buy into the system."

Still, more than eight months later, the loss lingers.

"It definitely bothers me," Steen said. "I wish I could go back and play that whole game all over again. That's part of life. Got to move on."

The past and future plays into why the rematch has already generated playoff levels of hype.

The average asking price for tickets is $626.42,

. CBS wasted little time making the game its first mid-afternoon "Game of the Week."

Alabama offensive lineman Anthony Steen speaks during the SEC Media Days 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham - The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala., Thursday July 18, 2013. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

Texas A&M's Kyle Field seats 83,002. Alabama has 6,000 tickets available to distribute to its season ticket holders.

Alabama, the likely preseason No. 1 team in the country, will have two weeks to digest the legitimate hype that appears after the season opener against Virginia Tech thanks to a friendly, early-season bye week. Texas A&M, which finished last season with a six-game winning streak and was picked by the media to finish second in the SEC West, will be coming off games against Rice and Sam Houston State.

"I think I'd rather not even have the bye week," Steen said. "I think that bye week's just going to make me nervous about it. I know it's going to be a nail-biter and I heard that Aggie Stadium is a tough place to play."

Just like it was for Texas A&M players last year at Bryant-Denny Stadium, it will be a completely new environment for the Crimson Tide.

"The fact we’re playing in College Station is going to be awesome," quarterback

AJ McCarron

said. "Like I said, it’s a blessing to be in the situation I’m in. It’s going to be a fun trip down there."

McCarron prefaced that statement with something straight out of his coach's playbook.

"I think every game’s the same way," McCarron said. "Me, personally, I take every week the same way. They’re out there to take something that I want in the end, so I’m going to handle my business in the exact same way, no matter who I’m playing."