Three and out: Breaking down Alabama's 42-3 victory over Duke

After shaking off some rust in the first quarter, Alabama’s well-oiled machine ran smoothly Saturday, churning past Duke, 42-3, in its season-opener. Here are three takeaways from the Crimson Tide’s big win inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Tua Tagovailoa developed a new favorite phrase over the offseason.

“You never go broke taking a profit,” the starting quarterback uttered several times when asked about his passing approach heading into his junior season.

Saturday, Tagovailoa lived by those words, dinking and dunking his way past Duke with pinpoint precision. The left-hander best known for his ability to unleash tight-spiraling deep balls was instead asked to pick apart the Blue Devils with an array of quick outs, slants and screens. He did just that, completing 23 of 24 passes inside of 10 yards for a total of 267 yards and a touchdown.

“I think Coach Sark did a great job calling the plays,” Tagovailoa said. “Knowing that they took a lot of the deep things away from us, we had to keep it short, have our players work in field. It was really those guys, just being able to spit the ball out on a little arrow route or a little bubble route and they’ll make plays.”

Tagovailoa attempted just six passes of more than 20 yards, completing two of them for a total of 42 yards. While such plays won’t be eliminated from the Heisman finalist's arsenal, they don’t seem to be the focal point of offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s attack. An Alabama offense which finished with 32 plays of 40 or more yards last season didn’t have one such play during Saturday’s blowout. Instead, the Crimson Tide scored on three drives of nine plays or more.

“It felt good. I think what was really good about today was we had to sustain drives this time,” Tagovailoa said. “It was really good to go into the game and having to work to score, not just going out there and just taking shots right away.”

While Alabama will face tougher defenses than Duke’s moving forward, the new attack should provide the Crimson Tide with more sustained success down the road. Tagovailoa was punished late last season for trying to force big passes against Georgia and Clemson. While Duke stopped Alabama on its first three possessions Saturday, Tagovailoa never appeared desperate. Instead, he stuck by his motto and continued to cash in one small toss at a time.