Tua Tagovailoa's already the best passer in Alabama history, but now aims to be the best quarterback

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — He’s better. That’s the bottom line.

As for how much better is open to debate. But there’s no doubt we’re all seeing the difference on the field. Six touchdown passes this week, five the previous two, and heading into October is already closing in on 2,000 passing yards.

When it comes to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this season, there’s no longer any doubt that he’s the best passer in Crimson Tide history.

The numbers reflect that.

Against Ole Miss on Saturday, he broke the Alabama single-game record for touchdowns responsible with seven. The six passing TDs topped another Crimson Tide mark, and he’s now been involved in 86 scores at Alabama.

AJ McCarron had the previous career record of 80 after being a three-year starter (53 games). Tagovailoa essentially topped him in a year and a half (28 games).

He’s doing things that have never been done before at Alabama, and that includes the guys who are considered all-time greats.

For example, Tagovailoa came in with 17 touchdown passes this season. Kenny Stabler had 18 during his entire Crimson Tide career.

Tua finished the game with 23 for the season. Joe Namath had 24 career touchdown passes at Alabama.

Different era, different game, of course. But they’re still considered the gold standard.

In terms of his Crimson Tide legacy that’s what Tagovailoa is playing for from here on out. Statistics are nice, but he has a chance to go down as the greatest quarterback to ever wear crimson and white.

His success in that goes way beyond numbers (and obviously winning another national championship would help).

For example, Jay Barker is considered one of the program’s all-time greats, and deservedly so. Not only did he go 35–2–1, but during the national championship game against Miami completed just four passes.

That’s not a point of weakness, rather the exact opposite. He put the team before himself and did whatever necessary to help the Crimson Tide win.

Steadman Shealy finished 10 in Heisman Trophy voting in 1979 – the undefeated national champions who were honored during their 40-year reunion this weekend. He threw just four touchdown passes that season while leading the wishbone offense.

The list goes on. Pat Trammel, Harry Gilmer, Steve Sloan and, yes, McCarron. All threw the football well. What really set them apart was how they led their teams.

We’re not talking about just running the offense or throwing the ball, and Tagovailoa’s figured that out.

Tua Tagovailoa was responsible for 7 TD vs Ole Miss today, tying the @SEC all-time record. Other names on that list include Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott. pic.twitter.com/UaVYa7gGCK
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 28, 2019

More than anything else he’s trying to lead the offense. The key phrase one keeps hearing with Tagovailoa is taking what the defense gives and its been enormously successful.

His touchdowns are up.

His completion percentage is up.

His yards are up even though he’s throwing shorter passes.

Meanwhile, Tagovailoa hasn’t had a turnover. One of the consequences to that is having a passing efficiency rating well over 200. He has a good chance at topping both last season’s NCAA single-season record (199.4), and Sam Bradford’s career mark of 175.6.

Until someone figures out a way to completely shut down Alabama’s incredible receiving corps, which doesn’t seem likely due to its depth, his numbers aren’t going to dip much even as the schedule gets tougher.

“I think that’s the beauty of this offense,” Tagovailoa said. “You get guys the ball in space and they’ll go work for you.”

Saturday, that was obviously junior DeVonta Smith, who like Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III earlier this season, had a jaw-dropping performance because the defense just didn’t have the horses to match up with everyone.

His 274 receiving yards smashed the Alabama record, as did the five receiving touchdowns.

“I think all of our guys are in a zone,” Tagovailoa said about Smith. “He just happened to be in the zone five times.”

Meanwhile, the quarterback finished 26-for-36 for 418 yards. Ole Miss could have known some of the plays Alabama was going to run, and maybe did through film study, and still couldn’t stop things like the 74-yard slant-and-go for six.

Well, see you later Devonta Smith. pic.twitter.com/3kT0EE5Vkr
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 28, 2019

If it wasn’t for a missed field-goal attempt, Alabama would have scored on eight straight possessions against a Southeastern Conference opponent.

“That’s Tua,” Jaylen Waddle said after Alabama's 59-31 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium. “Tua’s special.”

The sophomore wide receiver then gave the key to Smith’s big game, hard work.

“Their preparation throughout the week was really good. I think that’s kind of what paid off.”

That’s different from last year, when Alabama’s offense started showing signs of peaking at midseason.

Think back to what you heard about Tagovailoa’s offseason. He gave up his favorite video game. He stopped eating junk food. He went home to avoid distractions and focus on improving. He added pounds in the weight room to help keep himself healthy.

He’s making better decisions on the field a well. “Less is more” can be a tough concept for a young player to get down, but Tagovailoa hasn’t been forcing the ball as much.

Only now he’s going to have to take it to another level. Alabama’s defense was on the field for 88 plays on Saturday, just two weeks after South Carolina was able to execute 86 plays. The Crimson Tide doesn’t have the necessarily depth to withstand those kinds of games on a regular basis.

“We’ve been very, very productive, but we need to not only be able to control the tempo of the game with offense, we have to control the clock and the plays with the offense,” Nick Saban said. “If you’re really controlling the game, that really shouldn’t happen.”

He added: “If we play 20-more plays of defense in every game we play, the cumulative effect of that is times 12. So that’s a lot of plays, and it’s a lot of wear and tear on a lot of players.”

Getting an extra bye week this year will help, giving some beat-up players a chance to recuperate, as will having Deonte Brown back on the offensive line. Alabama will finally have its best five players up front when it plays Texas A&M in two weeks, and borrowed offensive lineman Kendall Randolph is beginning to show a knack for being a nasty blocking tight end.

So too will Tagovailoa need to continue to make strides.

He’s better, plus has figured out what those other standout Crimson Tide quarterbacks learned before him, that that part never ends – especially for those who want to be called the best at something.

“I think there’s a lot of improvement that still needs to be done, with checking out of plays, stepping up,” he said. “It’s a lot of things I feel I can work on.”