Bama’s now using Tua and Jalen AT THE SAME DAMN TIME

The Tide are putting their top QBs on the field together.

During its Week 6 destruction of Arkansas, Alabama did what fans of teams with two good QBs have proposed their teams do for years: put both on the field at once.

Tua Tagovailoa has emerged as Bama’s unquestioned starter, but Jalen Hurts and his 26-2 record and downhill running skill are still useful. So on back-to-back plays on one scoring drive against the Razorbacks, the Tide put both their star QBs out together.

The Tide aren’t the first team to do this, obviously. Penn State’s experimented with a similar package as a changeup. ULM used to do it regularly. Princeton’s used three QBs at once.

But Bama has the potential to be a whole different thing, because it’s Bama.

One look was a Tagovailoa handoff to Hurts, who’d motioned from the slot.

This went for a leisurely 5 yards on first-and-10 — a successful play, though nothing special by Alabama’s standards or against this defense.

But it’s easy to see how this concept could be really annoying for defenses. Hurts can take a sweep handoff and throw it, especially if Bama runs this motion in the opposite direction, with the right-handed Hurts going to his right.

The Tide have long used jet motion to constrain edge defenders, and the knowledge that Bama is comfortable giving Hurts sweeps means that defenders will inevitably face conflict. Do they crash toward Hurts or stay deep to defend a possible pass? How Alabama’s receivers behave on these plays could throw more chaos into the equation.

Another look was Hurts taking the snap with Tagovailoa flexed out at receiver.

This was the formation there, with Arkansas devoting a cornerback to Tagovailoa in single coverage and Hurts running a pretty standard QB-run RPO from the shotgun:

He decides to keep it and goes really far.

Hurts gives a glance to a running back heading out to the flat, but Arkansas appears to have the RB covered with a safety charging toward him. So Hurts takes off behind two pulling offensive linemen and runs for 27 yards, mostly untouched.

All told, the first two plays of the Tagovailoa-Hurts package netted 32 yards. Bama will probably use it again, and even if not, it’ll have been a way to mess with defenses.