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

quote:

---

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

---

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.

quote:

---

Tua outperformed Jalen in his first spring game.

---

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? Not to mention, Hurts had a good game himself that day, throwing for 300+ yards against our first string D...

quote:

---

I went to the Vanderbilt game, and even then, our offense clearly came to life with Tua on the field, not to mention his unbelievable TD pass.

---

True...but Tua came in during the 3rd Quarter when Bama was already up 38-0 and Vandy was beaten down...another pretty big difference, don't you think?

Look, by almost any measure, Tua looks to be a better QB...but your examples aren't equal comparisons by any stretch and I can't blame Saban for not making a switch based on those.

For myself, I thought Hurts had turned a corner after the LSU and, especially, the MSU games...but after watching the Iron Bowl, I came to the conclusion that I was wrong...watching our offense in the Clemson game and the first half against UGA only confirmed it in my mind...

Not many of us have access to the practices nor inside sources, so we don't know much of what went on behind the scenes. Saban has a pretty good track record of choosing his QBs in the past (AJ over P.Sims, B.Sims over Coker, Coker over Bateman, Jalen over Barnett). There had to be some reason Jalen was starting other than just Saban screwing up, so I'm inclined to agree with prevatt...