With six minutes left and trailing Auburn by eight points, Steve Spurrier yanked starting quarterback Stephen Garcia and inserted freshman Connor Shaw.
The move made some semblance of sense on a couple of levels. One, Garcia had fumbled on two straight possessions, drawing the angst and ire of his coach. And, two, Spurrier spent the entire offseason publicly “challenging” Garcia, making it perfectly clear that Garcia’s hold on the starting job was tenuous at best.
Even as Shaw did next to nothing to show that he deserves the job -- he threw picks on both possessions he was in on -- Spurrier was not willing to commit one way or the other to a starter for the Alabama game a week from Saturday.
“I don’t know what we’ll do,” Spurrier said about the quarterbacks. “We’ve got too far to go for (a decision). But we’re not going to have competition.
“We know what both can do. We’ve watched both of them now for quite a while. We’ll just make a decision on what’s best for the team -- and maybe what’s best for Stephen Garcia.”
