TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Here was Ty Simpson, the victorious quarterback, surrounded by cameras near the 50-yard line at Bryant-Denny Stadium as he conducted his postgame interview with ESPN. Then, a man in a backwards cap, sunglasses and a black jersey bearing the name of Vanderbilts Diego Pavia approached and offered a fist bump.
Good game, brother, said Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner who knows a thing or two about pulling an upset in this place.
Manziel and Pavia may be kindred spirits in stature, swagger and making magic out of nothing on a football field, but No. 10 Alabamas 30-14 victory over No. 16 Vanderbilt was the kind of game that showed why the original is always better than the replica.
For the past week in Nashville, trash was talked. Shots were called. But in the end, only Simpson emerged as the genuine article.
While Pavia and his Manziel-like, devil-may-care charisma may have been the story much of the college football wanted to see roll all the way to a Heisman ceremony in December, there was little doubt Saturday about the best quarterback on the field.
That was Simpson, the former five-star recruit who waited three seasons on Alabamas bench for an opportunity to play and has emerged from a summer-long quarterback battle in Tuscaloosa as one of the frontrunners to be named the best player in college football.
Heisman-level, said Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor. Thats what I see from him. Hes poised. He keeps us all together, keeps us tight and Im gonna do everything that I can to protect him. All we gotta do is protect as an offensive line. Hes gonna do his thing.
His thing against Vanderbilt: 23-of-31 passing for 340 yards, two touchdowns and one regrettable interception on Alabamas first drive. But beyond the raw numbers, it was Simpsons improvisational ability keeping plays alive, throwing on the run, escaping dirty pockets to make something out of nothing that was the true revelation.
After one of those scrambles down the left sideline midway through the third quarter, turning a third-and-6 into a 13-yard gain, the even-keeled coachs son even broke character for a moment and pointed to the crowd in a flash of emotion.
Even when he was buried behind Jalen Milroe last year, Simpson could always throw the ball. Now, with each passing week, hes showing a little more with his legs, his all-around game and even his personality. You could even say he out-Paviad Pavia.
Ive done it for a long time, since high school, but I feel like Ive evolved just from playing, said Simpson, whose father Jason is the head coach at Tennessee-Martin. Sometimes I get out of there too quickly when theres a good pocket, but the guys in general have a good sense of getting open and understanding scramble rules.
Indeed, it helps when youre throwing to the likes of Ryan Williams, Germie Bernard and Isaiah Horton, each of whom projects to have a future at receiver in the NFL. Ultimately, their physicality and speed wore down Vanderbilt, which was very much in the game until Alabama killed 8½ minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter and kicked a field goal for a 23-14 lead.
And while Vanderbilts 5-0 start was not a fluke, asking the Commodores to go on the road and beat an Alabama team that had strong memories of getting embarrassed 40-35 in Nashville last year was going to require Pavia perfection.
He delivered something considerably less.
After some typical eyebrow-raising comments during the week, including one where he said it wont be close if the Commodores played their game, Pavia only managed 198 passing yards on 21 completions while struggling to get big chunks in the running game. In the second half, Vanderbilt gained just 119 total yards.
But the game turned on Pavias mistakes. In the first quarter, Vanderbilt had a 7-0 lead and the ball inside Alabamas 15-yard line when Pavia had it stripped by Justin Jefferson. Then, early in the fourth quarter after Alabama took a 20-14 lead, the Commodores were poised to score again at the 17-yard line until Pavia forced a ball between multiple defenders that resulted in a well-deserved interception.
Pavia took accountability and blamed himself for the loss, which is an unspoken requirement when youve enjoyed the media spotlight as much as he has over the last year. But theres little doubt his bravado added at least a little fuel to a week where Alabama could have easily suffered an emotional comedown after last weeks season-changing win at Georgia.
You cant help but hear it, so you know its out there, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. And the thing Im really proud of, and this is what I talked to the guys about, our guys are showing up and doing the work thats whats got us to this point. Im sure its really tempting [to respond], but doing a really good job of just showing up and doing the work and focusing on us and this is what you get.
Simpson knows a lot about that.
For three years he sat on the bench, playing only low-stakes mop-up duty in games where most of the fans had already left. Now hes at the center of the storm every single week, playing for an Alabama team whose disastrous season opener against Florida State has removed much of their margin for error but also feels like a hundred years ago.
You could make the case that no other quarterback of his talent and pedigree would have taken the same path in a world where the need for quarterbacks across the country is so profound and the financial rewards are so enticing to jump in the transfer portal and see what kind of offers pop up.
But Simpson stayed. And now hes getting the reward he wanted most.
Sitting those years, you get a little feeling like, Man, I would love to be out here, he said. I remember those games when I wasnt playing like the Texas game last year or the SEC championship. Playing in those games are my dream, being able to play in SEC games like that. And honestly, just because of me sitting, it makes me love the game more.
Simpson may never get the kind of social media hype that Pavia manages to generate on a weekly basis, nor will we see Manziel on a sideline wearing his jersey.
But in his own, understated, business-like way, he left no doubt Saturday about who is the better quarterback.