ehheh. I am welcome to believe the comment was about me. That's a good one. Why not just say "yeah. It's about you"? For the record, if it's important, I posted at another board for 16 years, up until last summer, and finally, the fact that rival fans (seemed evident to some of us anyway) were allowed to keep stirring the pot prompted me to quit paying to post there. Though I haven't been posting much since joining here, I read the board here sometimes. This thread interested me because it seemed that Tua was given little chance to actually be the starting qb, so I joined the discussion about it. No huge deal, imo.
As for the "stats" that prove Hurts was so good, a great lot of those "completions" and yards were from jet sweeps and screens. There is a reason that Kiffin kept calling those plays. We had great playmakers at the receiver position, and that was a way to get them involved in the game. It's a shame, really, that we couldn't take advantage of the best receiving corps (arguably) ever at Alabama. It may be a reason Stewart cut out for the nfl. A good year this season and he might have made way more money.
The point, and it's very simple, is that Hurts was very inconsistent passing downfield, and reading defenses. Tua may or may not be better in a live game. It isn't at all complex. Since you like statistics, I'm going to link for you a chart, at the bottom of this post. You should also note that the chart was even before the playoffs, so it's actually worse than what you see. Note the completion percentages of 30% under pressure and 33% downfield. Those aren't the numbers of an amazing qb, as another poster said it. Yes, he was a freshman, and he may improve, but the other young man may actually be better, which leads us to the point that this isn't a typical year regarding the quarterbacks. We have a guy that, as noted, was inconsistent last year and lacking in some areas that a quarterback needs to do and we also have a guy that is absolutely not typical of the average freshman quarterback. Dilfer and Kiffin, among others, have said he was a special qb. So considering these things, why would some Alabama fans not be excited about the kid? How is that a bad thing?
I'm an Alabama fan. I don't much care about the number or the name on the jersey.
I'm not sure why discussion about the competition at the qb position is different than at any other position, running back for an example. We can discuss that without getting upset, so we can probably discuss the qb situation likewise. It's not going to make a difference, anyway, in how it all shakes out.