Alabama took out a summer’s worth of preparation during Saturday night’s opener against Louisville and was impressive in a 51-14 shellacking of the Cardinals.
Nick Saban took out a summer’s worth of questions about his starting quarterback on ABC reporter Maria Taylor, and he didn’t come across so well.
Sophomore Tua Tagovailoa received his first career start in the game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, and responded with a 12-of-16 passing performance for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Tagovailoa, who replaced Jalen Hurts at halftime of January’s national championship game and rallied the Crimson Tide from a 13-0 deficit to a 26-23 overtime triumph against Georgia, also rushed five times for 26 yards against Bobby Petrino’s Cardinals.
“Tua played well and made some really good throws, some really good throws and some really accurate throws,” Saban said in a news conference late Saturday night. “He put the ball right on guys when they had halfway decent coverage. He made good decisions for the most part.
“We’ve got to get him to put two hands on the ball, because he’s far too loose with the ball in the pocket, but he played well. He was well prepared for the game.”