Alabama coach Nick Saban has never put Greg McElroy in the upper echelon of his quarterbacks with the Crimson Tide.
Compared to 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, and Jake Coker, McElroy represents the Old School group of “game manager-type” former Alabama quarterback along with A.J. McCarron and John Parker Wilson.
The first four listed are all current NFL starters. Three of them – Young, Jones and Tagovailoa – were first round picks in NFL Drafts. Hurts was a second round pick. The New York Jets picked McElroy in the seventh round in 2011. He is a college football analyst for ESPN.
McElroy did help lead Alabama to its first national championship under Saban in the 2009 season, but that was a more defensive era. The Tide mainly won with defense and Heisman Trophy winning tailback Mark Ingram that season.
Last year, McElroy said he never had a bad practice at Alabama. Saban agreed, then added, “I don’t know how high the bar of expectations at the time were, either.”
Yes, McElroy came after the John Parker Wilson zone of Alabama quarterbacks. Wilson started in Saban’s first Alabama season in 2007 when the Tide went 7-6 with a win in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.
Nick Saban Has Had Better Alabama QBs Than Greg McElroy
When discussing the dramatic development of the passing offense at Alabama, Saban rarely mentions McElroy and McCarron. This is because that movement started from 2014-16 under then-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin with Blake Sims, Coker and Hurts. And so far this season, new starting quarterback Jalen Milroe appears more like McElroy than Young.
Asked about McElroy as a broadcaster on his radio show in 2018, Saban said, “He always was a good bull-(expletive deleted)-er.”
Perhaps that is how Saban is now regarding McElroy’s comments this week on his podcast – “Always College Football.”
McElroy discussed No. 3 Alabama’s 34-24 loss to No. 11 Texas last week at home.
Greg McElroy: ‘Run Of Dominance Done’
“I always define a dynasty with complete dominance over the competition almost always, and I think that those days have definitely gone by the wayside,” he said. “To say that the dynasty is over – yeah, I think the run of dominance in which they destroy every opponent is done.”
McElroy then quickly walked back – or crawfished – his comments, covering himself.
“But it doesn’t mean that I don’t think they can’t win a championship. I still think they can,” he said.
The No. 10 Crimson Tide (1-1) plays South Florida (1-1) Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC) in Tampa. Alabama is a 31-point favorite.
McElroy is not the first to proclaim the wicked witch of the West of the SEC dead.
“When we don’t play to a standard, I don’t need anybody else to criticize,” Saban said. “I’ve got pride in performance, just like everybody else in this organization. We want to try to get it right. We want to do everything we can to get people to play to a standard. That’s what we’re focused on. My standard comes from within me, not from some external motivation that comes from someplace else.”
Alabama Dynasty Standard Slipping
The Tide has won six national championships under Saban since the 2009 season. But the standard is surely slipping:
-The loss to Texas was the Tide’s earliest since 2003 when Alabama fell at home to Oklahoma 20-13. The Tide finished 4-9 that season under coach Mike Shula, and 2-6 in the West for fifth.
-The margin of defeat was the largest in a regular season game since a 20-3 loss to South Carolina in 2004 also under Shula. Alabama finished 6-6 and 3-5 that season.
-Alabama is just 3-3 in its last six games against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
-The Tide has lost five of its last 19 games against Power Five programs. In its previous 50 games overall, Alabama was 45-5.
“My approach is, try to play to a standard, try to get our players to play to a standard,” said Saban, who turns 72 on Halloween. He did not address McElroy’s comments directly, or anyone else’s.”
“I haven’t even heard or read any of those things because I don’t really pay attention to any of it,” he said. “I do pay a lot of attention to what we’re doing here internally and how we can get it fixed, so our players have a better chance to be successful.”
Crimson Tide Hurt By Portal
Nick Saban has lost depth in his program due to the NCAA Transfer Portal that since 2021 has allowed players to switch schools without sitting out a year. He does not like the portal or Name, Image & Likeness rules that also started in 2021 and allows players to legally be paid.
Could this be Saban’s final year?
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