re: Tua would've transferred if kept on sidelines for last game

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I think that basic freshman issues kept tua from being the starter, particularly things like playbook knowledge, ability to execute pre-snap reads, and mental mistakes.

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From the first time he stepped on the field he could read the defense, before and after the snap, better than Jalen ever has

My participation in this weeks-long discussion centers on arguing for logic and reality, both past and present, and debating against 2 fundamentally non-logical, and frankly asinine, arguments:

1: Saban played Hurts last year because "he's loyal to players who do things right."

This argument is not based on any objective metric and has no basis in reality as it pertains to Nick Saban. Saban has proven time and time again that he playes the players who give Bama the best chance to win, and nothing else. If playing time was based on "loyalty to kids who do things right," Ronnie Clark would have been our starting RB for he last 2 years and DJ Hall would've never played a fricking down.

This argument is solely argued by folks who do not want to understand and discuss the objective issues of the argument, and simply want to base their opinions on platitudes they could attribute to an honorable man.

Saban has never been "loyal to players who do things the right way" over players who give us a better chance to win. It has never happened and is a false, horseshite narrative.

2) If Tua had been starting (or getting the meaningful snaps) earlier in the season in [X] game, we would have definitively had an [X] better result in said game.

Whether you guys here want to believe Boz or not, it was all over college football that Tua had taken a big step forward during playoff practices and looked really, really good in December and January. Hell, even Herbstriet said it on live TV.

This story can only exist if it is in contrast to what was happening previously, i.e. Tua's play in December and January was different from his play before. Ergo, it is not possible to state based on logic and objective reasoning that the Tua that walked out on the field in the second half against GA would have trotted out on the field in October or November. His development was linear and January Tua did not exist earlier.

Sure, you can be upset about losing to auburn and use hindsight to say that Saban should have changed any number of variables in that game, but you cannot state that those changes would have definitively resulted in an increased likelihood of winning. If Tua had played against auburn, maybe we would have won. OR maybe we would have lost by 30. It's literally unknowable.

Sure, I personally would have loved for Tua to have played against auburn, given that we lost. Hindsight does that. I was sick of how our offense looked and at least we'd have gone down in a hail of offensive gunfire with Tua, but we might have gotten blown out for all I or anyone else here knows.

And so I'm here to argue against those sons-of-bitch, hindsight-armchair-QBs who want to spew garbage about what they know/knew Saban should've done, when their argument is 1) utter horseshite, 2) fundamentally unknowable, 3) totally goes against the season long news narrative about Tua from multiple insiders/journalists, and 3) goes against the GOAT who literally just managed us to a fricking title.

I fart in the direction of anybody who's a part of either group. You're wrong.

Having said that, I welcome any argument or narrative that's different from mine that is based on facts and logical objective reasoning. In the face of that type of competing argument, I'm perfectly willing to concede or respectfully disagree with a good argument.

The simplest explanation based on the preponderance of evidence is that Saban is risk averse, and in his mind, playing Tua for much of last year deceased our chances of winning based on criteria that he deems important. I have explained my attempts at understanding his reasoning, most of which centers on turnovers and increased mental errors from true freshman. This is a solid argument.

The above 2 arguments of other folks are weapons-grade bolognium. Complete. Horse. shite.

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Tua was never going to start last season

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Are you guys basing your insider info solely on Boz? Is that why you're arguing?

I have a small handful of folks I get info from, and all of them said that Tua was uber-talented but prone to freshman mistakes. The story of him taking the step forward late in the season was literally national news.

Be mad at Boz if you want, but my info is not based solely on him.

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It's literally unknowable.


Well hell. Who can debate that.

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That's the point. There are people on this forum who have been saying recently that they know/knew a fundamentally unknowable thing, and that they know/knew better than Saban. I believe those people to be bad for CFB and bad for the Alabama fanbase.

Discuss and critique the coach or anyone else. They are not perfect. But don't purport yourself to possess knowledge that requires trans-temporal and trans-dimensional omnipresence.

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What prevatt fails to acknowledge is that Saban CAN make mistakes, and he clearly made some costly ones last season. He pulled it out in the end because he's the GOAT, but he fricked up. He's not infallible

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Of course Saban can make mistakes. It's easily arguable, IMO, that not starting Tua in January was a mistake. I would have also inserted Tua in the 2nd quarter against Ga if it was me, although I get the argument for waiting till halftime.

I think that arguing that Saban was making mistakes by not starting Tua in September or October is folly and illogical based on the evidence.

I think the earliest you could argue that Saban was definitely making a mistake by not starting Tua would be mid/late November at the earliest. Arguing for anything beforehand simply flies in the face of the preponderance of evidence coming out of camp, and I say that with confidence based on numerous non-Boz reports.

Tua simply played/practiced like a freshman until November. A super talented freshman sure, but with lots of mistakes. Any insinuation otherwise its rewriting history,I am confident the GOAT coach was making the right call for most of the season.

However, if it had been me, I would have inserted Tua as the starter much earlier than Saban. But I might have lost us of some games. I was just sick of the offense under Hurts. It was painfully boring, disappointing, and ineffective.

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My participation in this weeks-long discussion centers on arguing for logic and reality, both past and present, and debating against 2 fundamentally non-logical, and frankly asinine, arguments:

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Unfortunately you've been using hyperbole and treating hearsay as fact. The "insiders" aren't coaches who spend all 20 hours on the field with the team, thus their info is heavily relied upon others. Some are higher up the "telephone" chain, some may even see some practices or scrimmages the public isn't allowed. None are batting 1.000, or close to it, in accurate info.

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Tua was playing against the second string defense (he also threw two INTs, one of 'em a pick-6) while Jalen was playing against the ones...that's a pretty big difference, don't you think?

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If it were only factually correct. Tua only threw the 1 int. I checked al.com, b/r, and sports illustrated online.

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True...but Tua came in during the 3rd Quarter when Bama was already up 38-0

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9-17 for 78 yards and no scores. That's hot, wet garbage... especially in an arse whooping.

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9-17 for 78 yards and no scores. That's hot, wet garbage... especially in an arse whooping.

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Four of those missed throws were terrible. Just no-excuse, flat-out bad.

One was tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Two were complete drops by receivers -- one by Ridley in the end zone, and one by Scarborough in the flat. Ridley's would have been a TD, and Scarborough's probably would have.

The other miss was a slight overthrow to Foster (I think) in the end zone. Would've been a long TD if completed.

I don't think that game is a good example of Hurts' inability to pass successfully. He could have been better, sure, but he wasn't "hot, wet garbage."

What that game DID illustrate is how much better Tua is than Jalen in some areas: quicker decisions, getting the ball out of his hands, and keeping his eyes downfield when his protection breaks down. His ability to do these things, along with his incredible accuracy, are what sets him apart from Hurts ... and, really, almost any other college QB.

Prevatt is taking advantage of this since Boz hasn't been around lately... SMH