A case for CNS to start and finish with Jalen in the 2017 AU game

[BamaInBham]

I don't see any good point in rehashing this nearly 10 months later as you're doing here, but evidently you expect everybody to agree with you. Good luck with that.

I'm not trying to rehash this issue, others continue to take shots at CNS regarding the AU game and I wanted to offer my alternative take. I've held my tongue for 10 months.

I would have been beyond shocked if everyone agreed with me, I just wanted to make what I believe is a valid case for CNS's decision.

So Daboll was expected to put his best offense on the field, yet could not choose which players to do this, even though his wide receivers were near revolt.

Surely, you can't fault CNS for exercising his prerogative on selecting the person to fill the most important position on the team. He would be doing the team a disservice if he did not make the call since he was convinced of his decision. You may disagree that his selection was the best but you can't disagree with his decision to make it. I'm sure this was fully understood by Daboll when he took the job. In fact, this would be true in almost any program, even those with weak HCs.

"However, there was some frustration on Daboll’s part on personnel matters, multiple sources told The Tuscaloosa News. These weren’t all that contentious, but they were frustrating for an offensive coordinator being asked to put his best offense on the field. Daboll wanted to play freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sooner than he has given the green light to do so. That doesn’t mean that Daboll didn’t like or want to play Jalen Hurtstoo. That’s not accurate at all. It’s just that Daboll saw what Tagovailoa was doing in practice against the best defense in the country and wanted to give him a chance once the offense started slumping in November."

Just because Daboll disagreed does not mean the relationship was dysfunctional. Coaches disagree all of the time and when OCs and HCs disagree the HC always wins if he wants to exercise his authority. In fact, if anyone was out of line it would have been Daboll for making his frustration known publicly, if he actually did. I would guess he did not.

 

[BamaInBham]

We all owe Jax a huge apology lol

Just because things turned out as they did does not mean that Tua should have replaced Jalen mid season.

 

[NationalTitles18]

"Hindsight is 50/50" - one thing Dye got right.

 

[volhater80]

Do you really think this board wasn’t championing Tua as the starter last year? Because I can tell you for fact there was a thread that was started each week by the tua crowd For him to start.

Yes there was guys championing for tua. We might not get to see practices but we can watch the games and it was obvious who was better at the QB position so I was a little baffled why he wasn't starting before or at least come in during the Auburn game. Jalen may not be elite but he would start for prob any other team outside the top 5 or 10. Problem is playing in the sec championship, playoffs or the national championship I just don't see him being able to get bama over the top.

It's like Dabo going with Lawrence over Bryant. Bryant would get them to the playoffs again but I think they had zero chance against us or Ohio St. And if Trevor is good as I think he is then Clemson has me a little nervous now as does Hanskins.

 

[Crimson White]

"However, there was some frustration on Daboll’s part on personnel matters, multiple sources told The Tuscaloosa News."

I suppose multiple sources that The Tuscaloosa News would trust could have been lying or wrong. Or perhaps the greatest college coach in the game isn't entirely infallible and is capable of making a mistake. I am sure that Tua Tagovailoa did improve between the first game to the last, so it's reasonable he didn't start from game 1, but I doubt he improved much between the first half of the title game and the 2nd half. The difference then was that Saban agreed to play him. My opinion, and that of a lot of other people, evidently including the guy Saban trusted (or at least mostly trusted) to run his offense, thought Tua was the better qb by November. According to sources.

Upon further review, I found this article. Evidently The Tuscaloosa News' own Aaron Suttles was at least one of the sources to whom Daboll confided his frustration.

Aaron Suttles at Tuscaloosa News/Tidesports reports that outgoing OC Brian Daboll ultimately left amid concerns of controlling personnel. Per the report, Daboll wanted to inject some life into the Tide’s putrid November offense by playing Tua Tagavailoa, but was ultimately rebuffed by Nick Saban. Saban apparently reserves unto himself all final decisions on player personnel.

Saban exercising this veto would be consonant with #sauces who told us in November that Tua and his family were getting very frustrated with the lack of opportunities in meaningful games where Jalen Hurts wasn’t playing well. The word “transfer” did arise. To be sure, there are still entire spring and fall camps worth of competition at the position, and Hurts has earned the right to compete for his job. But, it does seem as though the future is now. Hurts is a good college quarterback, an absolute great kid, a class act, and a consummate leader. But this team is built to compete against elite defenses. After 28 starts, Hurts has probably plateaued — and that S-shape performance falls below the quality needed to make a big-time throw against elite competition. That’s just the fact.

https://www.rollbamaroll.com/2018/1...rsonnel-frustration-wanted-to-play-tua-sooner

 

[colbysullivan]

Just because things turned out as they did does not mean that Tua should have replaced Jalen mid season.

Hence the “lol”

 

[editder]

I don't know if things would have turned out the way they did if Tua had played against the barn (i.e., we may not have won it all), but it sure would have been nice to see the look on their faces as they went down in flames.

 

[im4uainva]

I don't know if things would have turned out the way they did if Tua had played against the barn (i.e., we may not have won it all), but it sure would have been nice to see the look on their faces as they went down in flames.

Perhaps we will have the extreme pleasure of the look on their faces when they go down in flames this year. I can't think of a better scenario than that to end the regular season.

ROLL TIDE!

 

[grlindsey08]

This is one of those discussions where I literally agree with every point on every side of the argument.

Although, I do remember a few recievers dropping passes that were 100% catchable. A change in QB wouldn't (shouldn't) have changed their efforts.
Iron Bowl 2017? Bama flat out didn't want to be there. You don't gain a first down with 5 minutes left in the game and down by at least 2 scores and then WALK to the line of scrimmage and run another 10-15 seconds off the clock if you want to win. Although, I think I'm more upset at how much I spent on a ticket to watch them pretty much not try in the second half. Maybe I'll let it go one day.....probably right after I let go of the fact that it wasn't an interception against LSU in 2011! :biggrin:

 

[Ole Man Dan]

The shine was of Jalen after the Miss State game last year. It was clear that the offense was having significant problems, and the passing game was in trouble, which was setting up a situation that made it more difficult than it should have to run. I didn't attend any practices, but if Tua was showing anything in practice, I think a case could have been made that a change up was needed. Some things fell in place, and Bama was able to head into the playoffs with that loss, but it was not in Bama's best interest last year to not do all it could to beat Auburn.

Rumblings have been the staff was interested in moving on to Tua and that the receivers were feeling less than enthusiastic about their ability to help the team.

I am not saying it should have been done, but to say there was no reason to even consider Tua is not accurate either IMO.

Last year beginning with the MSU game we saw 8 man fronts, with everybody daring Jalen to throw the ball. That became everyone's game plan.
Finally after a lackluster first half against Georgia, Tua came in the game and put on a passing clinic. Georgia's 8 man front killed them. Tua became a MVP.
That set the stage for this year.
I had much rather watch Tua score and get us ahead, then let Jalen run them ragged.
Thing is... Jalen is much better than last year in the passing game.
If Georgia or whoever plays an 8 man front against him, I would expect to see him complete a few passes and keep the line honest.
The opposite is true if Georgia/Whoever sells out to stop the passing game, I would expect to see Tua once again prove he is a good runner, when he needs to be.
WE WIN EITHER WAY...