FAYETTEVILLE — Long gone are the days of game managers like John Parker Wilson and A.J. McCarron running Alabama coach Nick Saban’s offense.
The stellar play of sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the nation’s leading passer according to ESPN’s Total QBR metric, has even made many forget about Crimson Tide backup quarterback Jalen Hurts, who led the Crimson Tide to a 26-2 record and two national championship games as a starter.
Alabama’s offense has evolved with the majority of college football in recent years and become more of a spread attack, particularly with Tagovailoa running the show. Given that, the physicality remains with running backs Najee Harris and Damien Harris, who are both averaging at least 6.5 yards per carry.
But the story of the Crimson Tide offense in 2018 has been the explosive play in the passing game. Tagovailoa has completed 75 percent of his passes through five games, totaling 1,161 yards and 14 touchdowns to a host of talented receivers — all without playing in the fourth quarter of any game.
The Crimson Tide currently have five players with at least 200 receiving yards, led by Jerry Jeudy’s 423 and six touchdowns. Arkansas defensive back Santos Ramirez said the game plan used to be to prepare for plenty of 12 personnel with two running backs and one tight end. That has changed for the most part.
“Now they spread it out and we have to play more nickel packages and can't play base,” said Ramirez, who finished with 10 tackles in the 24-17 loss to Texas A&M last week. “The nickel has to be able to play the run and pass. It kind of changed the whole dimension of our defensive scheme.
“But we can adjust to them kind of running an offense like a lot of guys around the country now. It's not that hard to adjust to it. But to see how they evolved just makes it that much more dangerous.”
Alabama’s offense is just that: dangerous. And it is on a tear this season unlike anything the program has ever seen. The Crimson Tide have topped 500 yards of total offense in five consecutive games for the first time in school history. They totaled 608 yards in last weekend’s rout of Louisiana-Lafayette, mostly before halftime.
Razorbacks defensive coordinator John Chavis, who has been a coordinator in the Southeastern Conference long enough to remember Alabama’s lean years, says Alabama is now able to beat teams in a multitude of ways offensively now that it possesses a dynamic passer and capable runner at quarterback.
“Tua is a guy that can beat you running, he can beat you throwing,” Chavis said. “That's where it's changed throughout the years. Seven, eight, maybe 10 years ago, they were a run, play-action, drop-back team. Now they do it all and they've got a guy that touches the ball every time that is really, really good and well-coached.”
Defensive back Kevin Richardson, in his sixth year at Arkansas, said he began to see Alabama’s offensive evolution a bit last season. Ryan Pulley added that preparing for the Crimson Tide has changed over the years, too. He believes Chavis has provided the Razorbacks defense a solid game plan entering Saturday, and it begins with bottling up Tagovailoa, who has also run for 115 yards and two scores this season.
“The quarterback is pretty dynamic and can do it all the ways he wants to do it back there,” Pulley said. “He can pass it around and we just have to keep him contained. … They have an all-around team now. They usually have a drop-back quarterback. Now they have a dynamic quarterback. They have receivers out there that can make plays. They have very fast receivers.
“We just have got to go out there and keep playing our game.”