Blinded by the Upside: How Alabama Won the 2018 NCAA Championship

It was halftime of the 2018 NCAA Football Championship and Alabama was trailing Georgia by a score of 13-0. As the second half started, the Alabama quarterback, Jalen Hurts, was on the bench. Going into the game, Hurts was 26-2 over the previous two seasons, with one of the losses being in the previous year’s championship game. The new quarterback to start the second half for Alabama was unknown freshman Tua Tagovailo.

So, what was Coach Saban thinking? Let’s learn a little about Saban and Alabama football and you will realize the logic used by Saban to take such a risk to go for the upside despite the obvious downside.

Saban understood the downside of “going for it.” If Alabama lost, Saban would never be forgiven for pulling Hurts. Forget about the wins and national championship trophies in the Alabama athletic center. He would have been run out of town and into a witness-protection program.