Alabama coach Nick Saban applauds on the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Southern California on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Arlington, Texas.
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Hurts and Stewart hooked up again on Bama’s first drive of the second half.
Which might explain why he was in such a good mood inside the cramped press room late Saturday night, joking with reporters about how he handled the quarterback situation leading into Alabama’s season-opening game.
The head coach had planned all week long to send in Jalen Hurts for the third series of the game.
PULLMAN, Wash. – Gage Gubrud threw for 474 yards and five touchdowns as FCS Eastern Washington upset Washington State in the season opener for both teams. It certainly looks like they are deserving of their No. 1 ranking, but that doesn’t mean everyone believes they are the top dog.
“We just didn’t want to take a shot at the field goal right there”, he said. “We’re glad to have him as a part of the organization and hopefully he’ll be able to get back on his feet professionally and this will be beneficial to him”. “That’s the only decision we made”, Saban said.
ALABAMA: The Crimson Tide play their home opener next week against defending C-USA champion Western Kentucky, a week before their SEC opener at No. 11 Ole Miss.
Redshirt freshman Blake Barnett got the start but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
Whenever Saban has had to pick a new quarterback at Alabama, he has always gone with the guy who has the most experience in his system.
Now the Tide offensive coordinator, Kiffin didn’t exactly have his offense flying out the gates, but after the first quarter he rallied and figured out the way to break down USC’s defense.
Then Alabama grabbed the lead on a 39-yard scoring strike from Jalen Hurts to ArDarius Stewart, and it never looked back. With six minutes in the third quarter, Southern Cal had 80 yards of offense, and 36 of that came on one play.
We will have live score and stats updates throughout the game here. He connected for field goals of 47 and 41 yards.USC started quarterback Max Browne, but pulled him in favor of Sam Arnold when the game got out of hand.
The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide now has two former USC coaches in the fold.
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Even Montgomery’s Shaun Hamilton was in the middle of action, finally (five solo tackles with two being for loss).
