Alabama Football: Can the Crimson Tide ever be a likable team?

Alabama football has been the team to beat since the Nick Saban era began and it’s produced animosity. Can its fate be flipped with a quarterback change?

The Crimson Tide win year after year, and at some point, it starts to get old. Steamrolling teams will get rings and the glory, but it won’t increase the like meter.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been unkind towards Alabama football, the entitled King of the SEC. Something about them just always set me off. Maybe it was their mundanely traditional uniform pattern. Or maybe it was the fact that the Crimson Tide always won and I was tired of seeing them win one too many times.

But through the years I came to terms with why I purchased a one-way ticket aboard the Alabama hate train—it was because of their offense.

College football has drawn my attention because of how much more emotional the players are compared to the NFL where players make millions of dollars regardless of them strapping on the pads or not.

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But nothing is more unimaginative than a team that runs a half century’s old offensive scheme.

Even so, Alabama has gotten away with it. That’s because they lasso in all of the top recruits. Winning, especially under the Nick Saban era, has turned Tuscaloosa into an NFL production factory.

In recent years, the Alabama football team has been shaped by these attributes:

1. An offensive line that completely and utterly overpowers any team it faces with a distinct size advantage.

2. A brute running back that can level a 225-pound+ linebacker in open space while getting to run through holes that resemble the parting of the Red Sea.

3. A game-managing quarterback that doesn’t have ridiculous arm strength or almost superhuman abilities, but rather is installed to have one job which is to pretty much captain the ship and prevent it from sinking.

For me, last year’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game changed everything. As much as I have had a distaste for Alabama in the past, one decision Saban will have to make before the beginning of this season would actually completely reverse my own train of thought.

At the heart of that frame of mind is the decision to make Tua Tagovailoa the starting quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama might actually become a much more likable team if Tagovailoa is given the keys to the kingdom and command of the offense. The native Hawaiian islander has the potential to pioneer a new era in Crimson Tide football.

After all, he attended the same high school as former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, and his talents extend far beyond the lines of a gridiron. That’s right, Tagovailoa has latent talents. He sings and plays the ukelele, and he’s quite good at it. Here’s a video for proof:

Tagovailoa’s heroic efforts in the second half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2017 turned some heads and will now look to challenge incumbent Jalen Hurts for the No. 1 spot on the depth chart this summer. Tagovailoa entered that game at the beginning of the second half as the Crimson Tide had no offense to speak of in a 13-0 hole.

In just one half of football, Tagovailoa threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns on 14 completions. Of course, that is just a very small sample size, but that performance in the single most important game of the season provided a window of opportunity for Tagovailoa to shine–and that he did.

He adds flavor and spices up a typically bland Alabama offense. While Tagovailoa and Hurts share some of the same attributes, such as being able to both pass and run the ball well, Tua has a slight edge in both of those categories over Hurts.

In the final game of the season, Tagovailoa showcased his lively-lefty sling and his escape-artist athleticism. His running game also has the characteristic quality of a slippery elusiveness and it’s truly fun to watch.

I respect Tagovailoa for the poise and composure he showed in the biggest game of them all without really getting any meaningful snaps beforehand. The only other times he saw the field were during the tail end of games in which the Tide were blowing out an opponent. For the first time ever, I might actually enjoy watching an Alabama football game because of how exciting Tagovailoa is to watch.

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However, that all really depends on what Saban decides to do come the beginning of the season. Will he stick to his guns and go with the experienced veteran, or turn to his promising true sophomore who starred in the spotlight? I suppose only time will tell, but all I know is this–if Tagovailoa wins the starting job, he can make big bad Alabama a much more likable team than perhaps ever before.

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