Nick Saban has been playing quarterback roulette the first few weeks of the Alabama football season, and it hasn't exactly worked out. Jalen Milroe did not get the Crimson Tide an important win over the Texas Longhorns, and then his decision to play Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner against USF this week looked downright silly as Milroe took the bench spot.
The Crimson Tys were bad, and Milroe didn't play a single down. Alabama won but only scored 17 points in a game that they should have won by 30 or 40.
So, as expected, Milroe was named the starter for a second time less than five weeks into the season on Monday afternoon, with Saban giving his reasoning. Unfortunately, it makes little to no sense, because Saban thinks that what Milroe showed Saturday won him the job as a "leader."
Being mature enough to support your teammates even from the bench is a noble quality, but, really? Did he win the job because of his performance on the bench? Or did he simply not lose the job with a nap of a performance?
The college football crowd ain't buying this one from Saban, and Paul Finebaum was beside himself, too. Here was his reaction.
Paul Finebaum thinks Nick Saban's reasoning for Jalen Milroe is laughable
On ESPN's SportsCenter, Finebaum spoke to Matt Barry shortly after the announcement and had this to say:
"I've covered Nick Saban since the day he arrived in the SEC and this is maybe the most puzzling statement I've ever heard him make. I don't know how you pull a guy who you had named your starter in the first game, he struggles in the second game against Texas, you name [him] the backup, you don't play the guy [in the following game], and now he's your best player because he showed leadership essentially being a cheerleader during the game?"
For this to be the most "puzzling" statement Finebaum has heard from Saban in his entire time at the helm of Alabama says a lot, and could indicate that the end of the road for the Saban college football empire in Tuscaloosa is near. It's been an elite run since 2007, with Saban boasting a 196-28 record with the Tide including multiple BCS and College Football Playoff Championships, but clearly, all is not well.
"It still doesn't make any sense. I think Nick Saban realized he doesn't have any other quarterbacks. Milroe is a big play artist, he can break a play as well as he can throw an interception, and that's his best chance at winning, whatever that means."
Finebaum is right. It doesn't make any sense, but what other option does Saban have?
