The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide crushed the Louisville Cardinals in the Camping World Kickoff, 51-14. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the game.
Week 1 of the 2018 NCAA season has been as good as advertised. There were a handful of high-profile games that went down to the wire. Maryland and Penn State held off Texas and Appalachian State, respectively. Auburn outlasted Washington in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff. Notre Dame defended its home turf in South Bend against the rival Michigan Wolverines thanks to a late Shea Patterson fumble.
Sadly, no, it was not even remotely close in the Camping World Kickoff down in Orlando between the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the unranked Louisville Cardinals. Many expected the defending national championship Crimson Tide to roll, but maybe not of the blowout variety.
It was exactly that, as Bobby Petrino’s Louisville Cardinals looked like a bad ACC team getting buzz sawed by an SEC blue-blood. Alabama cruised to an effortless 51-14 victory over Louisville, who is dealing with the harsh reality that 2016 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson now backs up Joe Flacco on the Baltimore Ravens.
The game was pretty much over at halftime, as the Crimson Tide took a 28-7 lead into the break. Extracting anything really profound from this game might be pulling teeth, but I’m going to try. Truth be told, we did learn a few things from this Week 1 contest.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Alabama’s beatdown of Louisville in Orlando on Saturday night.
It’s Tua’s team now, and I know it Hurts, Jalen.
Everybody Hurts sometimes, and Jalen Hurts is certainly feeling it as Alabama’s former starting quarterback. Though he has only lost twice in two full years as a starter, it’s not his job anymore, no matter what Alabama head coach Nick Saban clamors otherwise at the podium.
The Crimson Tide are now officially guided by true sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. This is the same Hawaiian southpaw who overcame a first-half deficit versus the Georgia Bulldogs in the national championship back in January. Though still a bit raw and unrefined compared to the polished, game-managing quarterbacks we’re accustomed to down in Tuscaloosa, it’s Tua’s team now without any second thought.
Tagovailoa got to start the game for the Crimson Tide. He completed 12 of 16 passes for 227 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. His 14.2 yards per attempt was simply outrageous. He also ran for 26 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Overall, he offered a level of dynamism at the quarterback position we’ve never seen out of Hurts.
Like Saban said, Hurts did get to play a good bit in this season opener. However, his play under center was nondescript at best. He completed five of nine passes for 70 yards, rushing for nine himself on three carries. Sure, Alabama still put up a ton of points with Hurts running the offense. That being said, look for Hurts to transfer from the program once he graduates in December. There’s really no way he can win back the starting job at this point.
The Birds with Teeth ate some crow.
Yes, there was a lot of chatter from Louisville about how the Cardinals thought that they could beat Alabama in this neutral-site affair. Some of this came from the Cardinals players themselves. Some of it came from Petrino himself. Know the room, Louisville. Know the room.
While Petrino has built Louisville into a perennial top-25 team, the Cardinals just don’t recruit or win at the level of Alabama. The Commonwealth of Kentucky doesn’t have the players in-state like the Yellowhammer State does. It’s a reason that Louisville is usually seen as the third-best team in the ACC Atlantic annually after the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles.
Did Petrino and the Cardinals forget that Action Jackson doesn’t star for them any more? While he might have been on the Camping World Stadium sidelines, Jackson was in a hoodie cheering on his former teammates and new Louisville starting quarterback Jawon “Puma” Pass.
With all those teeth in that beak logo of theirs, you’d think that Louisville might have had more bite tonight versus Alabama than they displayed. Apparently not. It was a measuring contest for the Louisville program, and it came up way short. Will Louisville get better from this obliteration of a loss as the season progresses? Absolutely, but tonight Petrino and the boys are eating some crow down in Central Florida.
Alabama puts an exclamation point on a great Saturday for the SEC elite.
The SEC looks to be the only Power 5 conference that could conceivably send two teams to the College Football Playoff again. While it is debatable if it is the best conference top to bottom, the four best teams in the SEC are a group I don’t think you’d want to mess with.
No. 3 Georgia shut out Austin Peay earlier in the evening. No. 9 Auburn defeated arguably the best team in the Pac-12 in No. 6 Washington in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff. Even No. 18 Mississippi State manhandled Stephen F. Austin. Now we await what No. 25 LSU has in store for No. 8 Miami.
While Mississippi State is not quite playoff material at this point, as the program does have a new head coach in Joe Moorhead replacing the long-tenured Dan Mullen, Alabama, Georgia and Auburn can hang with and beat anybody. Yes, Georgia and Mississippi State played small schools on Saturday, but we know both programs are capable of winning 10 games this year.
Although Saban was prickly during the post-game on-field interview, his Crimson Tide put the exclamation on what was a terrific Saturday for the SEC elite. Alabama is the No.1 team in the country for good reason. Who else dismantles a major Power 5 foe like that on national television? That was a beatdown of epic proportions and no, Alabama isn’t the best it will be this year. The Crimson Tide still have work to do, and that should scare just about everyone.