Alabama football might have walked away with a win on Saturday, but in college football, not all wins are created equal. And the tradition for the Crimson Tide over the last several years has been to rain down points on inferior opponents, like South Florida.
Instead, they put up just 17 points on Saturday. While the defense was impressive, holding South Florida to just a field goal, the win created more questions than answers. We're also just a week removed from the Crimson Tide's era-shifting loss to Texas and Steve Sarkisian that pushed 'Bama seven spots down in the Top 25.
Tommy Rees, the offensive coordinator for the Tide, has to shoulder most of the blame here. Paul Finebaum didn't hold back discussing his performance, and surely said exactly what most Tide fans are left thinking.
Paul Finebaum cooks Tommy Rees for benching Jalen Milroe
Asked who the starting quarterback for Alabama should be, ESPN's Paul Finebaum took the opportunity to absolutely cook offensive coordinator Rees, while ultimately concluding that the high ceiling but imperfect Milroe should be the guy moving forward.
"The guy who started the first two games, Jalen Milroe. He made plenty of mistakes against Texas, Randy, but he has talent. He can run the ball, he can make big plays, and for the life of me, I don't understand what Tommy Rees, the offensive coordinator, is doing. Quite frankly, I don't know what Tommy Rees is even doing there after three weeks. There were jokes on my Twitter [timeline] about if he'd make the plane coming home and I'm not really sure he should. So far, I think Tommy Rees has been a disaster as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator. He has changed, he clearly went with the wrong quarterback" Finebaum said.
Finebaum doesn't think this is a small issue. He attributes a good bit of the Tide's turmoil to Rees's job performance, which has been simply subpar.
"Nick Saban apparently is only listening to Tommy Rees which is one reason why I think this program is in such turmoil right now," Finebaum concluded.
Ouch.
The Tide rolled with Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner on Saturday who combined for 10-of-23 for 107 yards and no passing touchdowns (Simpson did get a rushing touchdown). Milroe did not play.
The Tide, with the Longhorns loss behind them, truly don't have much opportunity to get back in the running for the College Football Playoff. Their schedule is fairly week, and scoring fewer than three touchdowns in Tampa does not bode well for their reputation.
Who gets the start next week will be something to watch. Nick Saban, presumably having everything he should need to make a snap decision, told reporters that the team would evaluate the three passers and make a decision for next week.