With Tua Tagovailoa Alabama Is Not Just Unstoppable But Unbeatable
If you’re in the way of Alabama’s team in 2018, the best thing you can do is take cover.
Because the Crimson Tide is on a roll and there’s no stopping this overwhelming force of college football.
The Red Elephants are quite simply stomping other teams. Cutting off their lifeline, putting their cleats on the throats and then stampeding over them with a relentless charge that’s like an elephant stomp on the wild Serengeti.
This team has the talent and it has the hunger. The team plays angry and with a focus. And by the time the dust clears, this team will go down as the best in the history of college football.
Comparing different eras is difficult and sometimes pointless but no team in the history of the game has possessed such a potent offense combined with a monster defense. Plus the ability to return any punt or kickoff for a touchdown or certainly field position advantage.
The element that sets this one apart is Tua Tagovailoa. The dynamic quarterback gives Alabama the downfield passing threat that had previously existed only with Jake Coker (the second most dynamic offense in Saban’s tenure at Alabama) and, in an opportunistic way, with A.J. McCarron.
But Tagovailoa takes it to another level. He can not only look down the entire field but he can throw receivers open when they appear to be covered; the second touchdown against Ole Miss, a bomb to Jerry Jeudy, was absolutely perfect. Receives don’t have to adjust to his passes – they just need to keep running and catch the ball.
No other team in the history of the game can claim to be so dominant in every single phase of the game. Alabama can pretty much score at will, it chokes opposing offenses a defense that can pressure the quarterback without blitzing and sensational and speedy freshman Jaylen Waddle can return any kick for a touchdown.
Three things are certain:
• This is the best team of the Nick Saban era
• This is the most complete team in Alabama history
• This team is not only unstoppable but unbeatable
Other Great College Football Teams
The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers – which destroyed Alabama 38-6 in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship in Bear Bryant’s first year running wishbone and rebuilding the Tide – had Jerry Tagge at quarterback, Rich Glover on the defensive line and do-everything threat Johnny Rogers, well, everywhere.
Nebraska also has a potential “best ever” with its 1995 squad.
The 2001 Miami Hurricanes have to be mentioned in any top “best ever” discussion.
I saw the great USC teams of the Pete Carroll era up close, and especially that 2014 one was dynamic in all three phrases of the game. It sure would be fun to see a game between that team and this Alabama one.
The 1945 Army team was stacked because there was a war on and it had the best players in the country.
Greatest Teams In Alabama Football History
I always thought the 1979 Alabama team that went 12-0 and won the second (should have been third) National Championship in a row at the end of Bryant’s career was the best in school history. It combined a prolific wishbone offense guided by the steady Steadman Shealy with a tough-as-nails Bryant defense full of future NFL players.
Then again, I never saw the early 1960s teams and Joe Namath. Or the 20s and 30s Rose Bowl champions that put not just Alabama but all of Southern football on the national map. Some long-time Alabama fans say the 1941 team might have been the best one.
The previous best Saban team at Alabama – perhaps up until now the best in school history – was the 2010 team.
Still, this year’s team has the potential to take great Alabama football teams to another level. Of course, the 2018 squad hasn’t won anything yet and a team can’t be a “best ever” unless it wins a National Championship.
But it’s sure looking as if we’re seeing the best team in college football history.
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