In the first of his season-long Thursday appearances on the Pat McAfee Show, Nick Saban was asked about the state of Alabama football in relation to the sport as a whole.

The Crimson Tide entered the year without a clear answer quarterback, with Jalen Milroe currently holding the starting job after the run of Jalen Hurts-Tua Tagovailoa-Mac Jones-Bryce Young. From the outside perspective, McAfee told Saban live from the ESPN College Gameday set, Alabama seems to be reverting back to an “old school” offense with an emphasis on running the ball. Saban agreed.

“I think it’s a transition we want to make. I think it’s happening all over in college football right now. You see more people getting in what you refer to as 12-personnel, two tight ends, two wides, run the ball. People have adapted to the spread. There still are some great features that the spread gives you offensively, RPOs, spreading the field, advantage throws,” Saban said. “But I think more people are getting back to running the football. That’s what we wanted to do, have more balance in our offense this year.”

Saban also said Milroe helps the No. 3 Tide (1-0) complete the transition. A true dual-threat quarterback, Saban noted Milroe is one of the fastest players on the team and has a “tremendous capacity” for big plays. Milroe showcased that against Middle Tennessee State last Saturday with five touchdowns to fill a highlight reel. More importantly, the redshirt sophomore has learned to process better, which Saban said has led to fewer mistakes.

Alabama produced 205 rushing yards against MTSU and will face an aggressive defense tomorrow night in No. 11 Texas (1-0). The Longhorns yielded 27 yards on 25 carries in its season-opener against Rice. Saban credited Texas defensive linemen T’Vondre Sweat and Alfred Collins on his radio show.

“The two inside guys are really, really good,” Saban said Wednesday. “Strong, powerful, athletic, can pass rush, really hard to block, don’t give up a lot of movement inside, which makes it difficult to run. Their ends are athletic and they do a good job of playing together as a team. … It would be challenging for us to be able to get movement on the people we need to get movement on so we can have some balance on offense.”

Kickoff in Bryant-Denny Stadium will be at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].