Alabama Football: Exciting Tua makes Crimson Tide a scary foe

Camping World Stadium in Orlando hosted Alabama football and Louisville Cardinals. The Crimson Tide walloped Louisville 51-14.

Tonight, Alabama football returned after its historical, triumphant January championship comeback victory against the Georgia Bulldogs. However, the motto remained the same as Omar boasted in HBO’s The Wire, “ Come at the king, you best not miss!”  Alabama delivered more suffocating body blows to Louisville than Tuscaloosa’s own Bronze Bomber, heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

Tua should worry every Alabama football opponent

Head coach Nick Saban held onto naming a starting quarterback position all week as if he were maintaining the launch codes for a nuclear strike. As expected, Tua Tagovailoa trotted out with the first-team offense. Unreal is not a robust enough word to describe the talented sophomore quarterback.

Tua dazzled displaying escapability, precision, and magnificence. The lefty spinning the ball to Devonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy, and Jaylen Waddle gives Alabama an offensive edge never seen during the Saban era. Throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns, Tagovailoa will challenge Joe Namath and Kenny “Snake” Stabler as the best to ever take a snap under center at the Capstone.

The former starter, junior Jalen Hurts entered with 7:50 lasting in the second quarter. He finished 5 for 9 for 70 yards.

Alabama registered 509 yards of total offense. Damien Harris led all rushers with 55 yards on seven carries.

Defense needs to clean up penalties

Alabama’s calling card, the defense settled down in the second half allowing only 268 yards. R Junior safety Deionte Thompson showed tremendous range with one interception. He was all over the field. Quinnen Williams lived in the Cardinals backfield applying constant pressure to Jawon “Puma” Pass. In the fourth quarter, Shyheim Carter picked off an errant pass and took it to the house 45 yards later.

Uncharacteristically, the Crimson Tide had three penalties resulting in a Cardinal touchdown. Two personal fouls on third downs committed by defensive stalwarts Anfernee Jennings and Christian Miller extended the scoring drive. Nick Saban read Miller the riot act for a lengthy period after the penalty.

Explosive Josh Jacobs returned a kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown. The return was the Tide’s first since Kenyan Drake scored in the 2016 national championship game against Clemson. Freshman Jaylen Waddle astonished as a return specialist giving Tide special teams a lift that hasn’t been present since Eddie Jackson departed.

The Best of the Best

Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Ohio State dominated as expected. Otherworldly talented is not a misnomer for Alabama. Having Tua and Jalen is an embarrassment of riches that Louisville or any team in the country would want. Even though, the Crimson Tide won handily, expect Saban to harp on all the little things that did not go so well.

The Tide will tidy up the defensive side of the ball as the youngsters gain experience. Penalties and field goal kicking has to improve. Ten penalties for 111 yards, missed field goals and extra points are not championship worthy. Having a Madden cheat code under center, Alabama is the team to beat in college football.

Fiery and frigid, Nick Saban will not be happy as he knows there is a lot of work to do. Too many mistakes in the game may cancel Nick’s normal 24-hour rule. Saturday night’s shortcomings may be rehashed for a couple of days.