BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Nick Saban has all the luck.

How many coaches get a do-over in the national championship game?

Saban’s on his way to doing it twice.

Last year, he figured out how to beat LSU in the BCS Championship Game by losing to the Tigers in the regular season.

This year, he gets to prep for Oregon against Oregon Lite.

Also known as Texas A&M.

What better way to be ready for the swoosh of the Ducks than to experience the blur of the Aggies? No college football team plays the game at the speed of light quite like Oregon, but Texas A&M comes close.

That’s not an insult to the Aggies. It’s a compliment to everyone from head coach Kevin Sumlin to offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury to quarterback Johnny Manziel and friends.

While Chip Kelly has been perfecting his NASCAR attack for six years at Oregon, the last four as head coach, setting the national standard for moving the football and scoring points, Sumlin and company are in their first year in College Station.

Their fast start is even more impressive because they’re doing it in the program’s first year in the SEC, the national leader in stopping the football and preventing points.

Look at the numbers, and look out below.

Texas A&M is 10th in the nation in rushing offense at 251.3 yards a game. Oregon (341.2) is second. A&M is fifth in total offense at 559.6 yards a game. Oregon (561.2) is fourth. A&M is fourth in the nation in scoring at 44.7 points a game. Oregon (54.3) is first.

In a 58-10 win over Arkansas, the Aggies scored their most points ever against the Hogs in their 69-game series. In a 63-21 win at Auburn, they hung more points on the Tigers than anyone since 1917.

You want to know Saban’s real feelings about the hurry-up no-huddle offense? You want to find out if scheming for it and playing against it really gets under his skin?

It was premature to ask him that question Monday. Better to wait until Saturday at about 6 p.m. after his defenders have stopped chasing the freshman phenom Manziel all over Bryant-Denny Stadium.

You won’t need a scoreboard or a stat sheet to know how the Crimson Tide did. The look on Saban’s face will let you know the score.

The best defense in the nation, still, despite looking human at times against LSU, is about to meet the best offense it’s seen in two years - since Cam Newton hushed everyone’s mouth in Auburn’s epic 28-27 Iron Bowl victory.

No one has scored that many points against Alabama in the 23 games since.

That Auburn team had the No. 5 offense in SEC history in total yards. This Texas A&M team is on pace to finish No. 1. Better than the Gus Bus. Better than Tim Couch and Kentucky’s Air Raid. Better than three different editions of Steve Spurrier’s Fun ‘n’ Gun at Florida.

At a time when Alabama needs to catch its breath after the exhausting comeback in Death Valley, here comes Sumlin with an attack designed to leave the defense gasping for air. It might seem like bad timing, but look at the big picture, and the Aggies are the best thing that could happen to the Crimson Tide.

They’ll provide a sneak preview of what’s coming when Alabama gets to south Florida for the BCS Championship Game and Oregon is there waiting.

Texas A&M isn’t a clone of Oregon. The Ducks run the ball better featuring tailback Kenjon Barner; the Aggies throw it better with Manziel and wideout Ryan Swope. But each team is capable of scoring points in bunches by land or air, of putting the kind of home-run pressure on Alabama’s elite defense that no offense has since Auburn in 2010.

Put the brakes on the Aggies, and the Crimson Tide will be one step closer to the starting line against Oregon. This game won’t just help Saban, Kirby Smart and their defense get to the BCS Championship Game.

It should help them get the job done when they get there.

Some guys have all the luck.

Drop a civil comment below. Write Kevin at scarbinsky@gmail.com. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/KevinScarbinsky. Listen to him weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on the Smashmouth Radio Network on ESPN 973 The Zone.