After three weeks of the college football season, it is time for two of the game’s highest paid and most successful coaches to make the most important decision any coach can make and name a starting quarterback. That Urban Meyer and Nick Saban have allowed the quarterback question linger this long is not necessarily surprising, but it is puzzling.
Ohio State’s offense looked fascinating in Week 1 against Virginia Tech, but since then the entire offense has struggled to get in its groove. On Saturday Meyer started Cardale Jones, only to switch things up in the second half with J.T. Barrett. Neither quarterback, surprisingly, was tremendously effective against Northern Illinois. On this day, it did not come back to bite Ohio State with a loss, but Meyer is a smart enough coach who has been around long enough to understand the value and importance of having one single quarterback that is clearly the one to run the offense. This year’s situation is a tad unprecedented, but the time has come for Meyer to gain control of the offense and make clear who the number one passer is going to be.
Ohio State may not have been bitten with a loss while figuring out its quarterback situation. Alabama on the other hand, is now behind the eight-ball. Saban started off a key SEC West game against Ole Miss sending freshman Cooper Bateman to the field to lead the offense at the beginning of the night. As the Crimson Tide dug a hole, Saban switched to Jacob Coker, he who could not win the starting job a year ago and once fell shy of the starting job at Florida State behind Jameis Winston. Coker may not have had a good night with his pass completion percentage, but he was on the field to lead Alabama’s late rally that fell short of avoiding a home upset to Ole Miss. He did show enough to be Alabama’s full time quarterback moving forward tough, and it is time for Saban to make that call.
Meyer admitted in his postgame press conference it may be time to settle down on quarterback moving forward. Saban will be getting there as well. The good news is it is not too late to make that call at either school. Ohio State remains undefeated and Alabama can move forward with the confidence a one-loss champion in the SEC still has a good shot to reach the playoff.
Make the decisions Meyer and Saban. Put it to rest today.