Alabama went more than seven months between January’s victory over Georgia in the national championship game and last Saturday’s season opener against Louisville without naming a starting quarterback.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban didn’t need the full seven days leading up to this Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Arkansas State in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
In fact, Saban barely needed seven seconds in his news conference Monday to update the publicized competition between sophomore Tua Tagovailoa and junior Jalen Hurts. Tagovailoa earned his first career start Saturday night in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium and led Alabama to a convincing 51-14 win.
“I think everybody knows that Tua is going to start this game and that we are going to use Jalen’s skill set in the future to help where we feel he can benefit the team,” Saban said. “I want to be clear with everyone that I have done this in the past – where we don’t say who the starter is going to be for the first game, and we give both quarterbacks the opportunity to play, which is exactly what we did.
“Now we know and you know.”
Alabama and Arkansas State have met twice before, with the Crimson Tide winning 34-7 at Birmingham’s Legion Field in 1982 and 35-0 at Bryant-Denny in 2008. Arkansas State opened this past weekend with a 48-21 triumph over Southeast Missouri.
Saban said late Saturday night that he had informed Tagovailoa and Hurts of his decision before last Thursday’s practice, but the starter wasn’t revealed publicly until Tagovailoa took the field against the Cardinals. Tagovailoa guided Alabama’s offense to four touchdowns in five first-half possessions to give the Crimson Tide a 28-0 lead.
Hurts had two first-half possessions that did not result in any points, and Saban used the analogy of being a parent to describe where the situation is now.
“Sometimes some of your children do things a little better than others,” Saban said, “but that doesn’t mean that you vilify one and put the other on a pedestal, especially publicly, because you want to support and help both to be successful. That’s exactly how I feel about our program, and I want everyone to understand that.”
Saban became irate with ABC reporter Maria Taylor following Saturday’s slaughter after she inquired about the quarterbacks and asked what he had learned from their performances. He later apologized to Taylor for how he handled the interview.
On Monday, he was asked about his postgame outburst.
“I talked to Maria, and I could have handled that in a better way,” Saban said. “If I get asked to vilify a player and make another one a crown prince publicly, I might not respond to that, and I need to learn a better way to respond to that. I pray every Sunday that I never get angry, but it was a time-and-circumstance thing for me.
“I was upset with the way we finished the game and with the penalties that we had and the mental errors that we had. It was totally my responsibility.”
Tide tidbits
Junior inside linebacker Mack Wilson (foot) was limited during Monday’s two-hour practice in helmets and shoulder pads, but Saban expects everybody who played Saturday to be good for today. Saban on nose tackle Quinnen Williams, who had 3.5 tackles for loss in his starting debut: “He was probably the most active player up front.” Saban was asked how Tosh Lupoi fared in his first game as defensive coordinator and responded, “I am not going to evaluate our coaches publicly.” Should Alabama be ranked No. 1 today in the Associated Press poll, it would match Ohio State for the most all-time appearances (105) at the top.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.