What Nick Saban said about Alabama's QBs after road win at USF

TAMPA, Fla. – Alabama made a change at quarterback prior to its third game of the year, going with Tyler Buchner against South Florida after Jalen Milroe started the first two contests.

Buchner started the first road game, but the Crimson Tide made a change in the second quarter. However, it wasn’t Milroe who relieved Buchner – it was Ty Simpson, who closed out the 17-3 win at Raymond James Stadium, seeing the most extensive action of his career.

After the victory, head coach Nick Saban was asked what went into those decisions.

“I think that’s an internal team thing,” Saban said. “I think that everybody has the opportunity to respond in the right way when things don’t go exactly like you want them to, and we played the guys that practiced the best all week long.”

Buchner threw for 34 yards while completing 5-of-14 passes in the opportunities he received on Saturday afternoon. His first start in an Alabama uniform – and the fourth of his college career – was interrupted by a lightning delay, but the Notre Dame transfer struggled. Three of his five completions were on screens, either at or behind the line of scrimmage. Buchner was 1-for-5 on short passes, 1-for-4 on mid-range throws and 0-for-3 on shots down the field.

Simpson didn’t attempt as many passes, as the Crimson Tide leaned on its running game late, but he completed the same number of throws (5-for-9) for 73 yards. He was responsible for the longest play of the game for Alabama, a 45-yard toss to tight end CJ Dippre, which kicked off a streak of five straight completions after he missed his first four. The redshirt freshman was also sacked five times, with the first two occurring on third down after he subbed in.

“We’re gonna evaluate the quarterbacks that played today and evaluate Jalen Milroe in terms of how he played and decide this week who gives the best opportunity to be successful as an offensive team,” Saban said in his opening statement. “And that’s the way we’ll go.”

Including the five times he was sacked, Simpson rushed for -12 yards on nine touches. On his four legitimate carries, Simpson rushed for 20 yards, including the Tide’s final touchdown.

“I thought he did OK,” Saban said of Simpson. “He made a couple really good throws and we missed a couple big-play throws that we’ve been making some of those. But I thought he played well. He managed the game well. We ran the ball quite a bit when he was in there. I don’t think the sacks were necessarily his fault. We’ll evaluate when we watch the film.”

Saban had the same tune after the Week 3 road game as he did all week – Alabama (2-1) will continue to evaluate its quarterback position, which includes the possibility of Milroe returning to the starting lineup after not seeing the field in Tampa. While he remained on the sideline, Milroe was engaged and encouraged his teammates throughout the game against the Bulls.

“He did a great job,” Saban said of Milroe. “He really has been supportive of his teammates, and I was happy to see that. And hopefully, we’ll all learn lessons from the experiences that we have and move forward in a positive way.”

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