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The Quarterback Making Alabama Scarier Than Ever
There was a quaint period between the end of last season and the beginning of this one when the college football universe participated in an elaborate charade involving the most important position at the most important program in the country.
āItās still to be determined as to who is going to play quarterback for Alabama,ā Nick Saban said in July. He even kept a straight face.
Alabama is now 6-0. It might still be 6-0 if it had a platypus playing quarterback. But instead it has Tua Tagovailoa. And heās why the Crimson Tide are scarier than ever.
It seems more than slightly absurd to say that Alabama could get even better than they have been over the past decade. Itās already the greatest modern college football dynasty, winner of five of the last nine national championships.
But it reached that status with uninspiring play at quarterback. Only one of Sabanās title-winning quarterbacks is in the NFL. And that quarterback, AJ McCarron, was jettisoned by the Bills before the season in favor of a player whose most notable career highlight was throwing five interceptions in one half.
Tagovailoa has been so good that he hasnāt even had a chance to fully show how good he can be. He has built leads with such ruthless efficiency that he hasnāt thrown a pass in the fourth quarter all season. He has completed 75.2% of his passes for 1,495 yards and 18 touchdowns without an interception.
Last Saturday against Arkansas, he threw for 334 yards and four touchdownsāon a grand total of 13 passes. But he only completed 10 of them, which in one measure was a step back from his 8-for-8 performance the previous week. His current passer rating of 258.4 would be the highest all-time in a single season.
Even Saban, the notoriously critical coach, conceded that Tagovailoa has āplayed extremely well in every gameā and has āprobablyā exceeded expectations.
āThis is just the expectation that we have as a whole offense,ā Tagovailoa said last week.
Tagovailoa has turned Alabamaās offense into an unprecedented fireworks display because heās the first superstar quarterback to join forces with all of that surrounding talent. Every game produces a jaw dropping number. Last weekās performance was the first time a quarterback has thrown for 300-plus yards on 13 or fewer attempts since at least 2000.
It isnāt just the strength of his arm, either. His completion percentage would far and away be the highest single-season mark for an Alabama quarterback.
Thereās no one way to quantify just how dominant this has made Alabama. Itās averaging 56 points per game, including two 60-plus point efforts against SEC opponents. The teamās average scoring drive has required, on average, fewer than six plays. The Crimson Tide would still be one of the top scoring teams in the countryāif they scored zero points in the second half all season.
But the best way may be in the broader context of the schoolās quarterback play. According to the schoolās record books dating back to the programās first game in 1892, an Alabama quarterback has thrown for four or more touchdowns in a game only 16 times. Tagovailoa owns three of those occasions. He has only started six games.
There was a quaint period between the end of last season and the beginning of this one when the college football universe participated in an elaborate charade involving the most important position at the most important program in the country.
āItās still to be determined as to who is going to play quarterback for Alabama,ā Nick Saban said in July. He even kept a straight face.
Alabama is now 6-0. It might still be 6-0 if it had a platypus playing quarterback. But instead it has Tua Tagovailoa. And heās why the Crimson Tide are scarier than ever.
It seems more than slightly absurd to say that Alabama could get even better than they have been over the past decade. Itās already the greatest modern college football dynasty, winner of five of the last nine national championships.
But it reached that status with uninspiring play at quarterback. Only one of Sabanās title-winning quarterbacks is in the NFL. And that quarterback, AJ McCarron, was jettisoned by the Bills before the season in favor of a player whose most notable career highlight was throwing five interceptions in one half.
Tagovailoa has been so good that he hasnāt even had a chance to fully show how good he can be. He has built leads with such ruthless efficiency that he hasnāt thrown a pass in the fourth quarter all season. He has completed 75.2% of his passes for 1,495 yards and 18 touchdowns without an interception.
Last Saturday against Arkansas, he threw for 334 yards and four touchdownsāon a grand total of 13 passes. But he only completed 10 of them, which in one measure was a step back from his 8-for-8 performance the previous week. His current passer rating of 258.4 would be the highest all-time in a single season.
Even Saban, the notoriously critical coach, conceded that Tagovailoa has āplayed extremely well in every gameā and has āprobablyā exceeded expectations.
āThis is just the expectation that we have as a whole offense,ā Tagovailoa said last week.
Tagovailoa has turned Alabamaās offense into an unprecedented fireworks display because heās the first superstar quarterback to join forces with all of that surrounding talent. Every game produces a jaw dropping number. Last weekās performance was the first time a quarterback has thrown for 300-plus yards on 13 or fewer attempts since at least 2000.
It isnāt just the strength of his arm, either. His completion percentage would far and away be the highest single-season mark for an Alabama quarterback.
Thereās no one way to quantify just how dominant this has made Alabama. Itās averaging 56 points per game, including two 60-plus point efforts against SEC opponents. The teamās average scoring drive has required, on average, fewer than six plays. The Crimson Tide would still be one of the top scoring teams in the countryāif they scored zero points in the second half all season.
But the best way may be in the broader context of the schoolās quarterback play. According to the schoolās record books dating back to the programās first game in 1892, an Alabama quarterback has thrown for four or more touchdowns in a game only 16 times. Tagovailoa owns three of those occasions. He has only started six games.
