Early in the 4th quarter of Saturday’s 48-7 blowout victory against Arkansas, ESPN’s Greg McElroy joked about how Alabama starter Mac Jones’ stats in his first career start were actually better than those of Tua Tagovailoa.

And while McElroy was technically accurate — Jones was 18-of-22 for 235 yards and 3 TDs against the Hogs, a smidge better than Tagovailoa’s 12-of-16 for 227 yards and 2 TDs against Louisville in 2018 — it hardly triggers the kind of quarterback controversy that has so often engulfed Alabama’s football program in recent years.

What Jones’ tidy night does do is offer more than a measure of reassurance should Tagovailoa’s injury be more significant than it appears.

Backup QBs have a rich history at Bama in the past 2 decades. Almost an entire season was eaten up with Andrew Zow vs. Tyler Watts, John Parker Wilson and Brodie Croyle, McElroy himself with Wilson, and AJ McCarron with McElroy. The running joke on campus is that the favorite Crimson Tide player each season is always the backup QB — as any time anything goes wrong with the offense, the guy with the proverbial clipboard is the player everyone clamors for.

Of course, the most notable QB controversy in Alabama history — and arguably all of college football — was just two seasons ago when Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts were locked in a preseason duel over who would lead the 2018 team. Hurts, a junior, was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2016 and was 28-2 as a starter … but was infamously benched at halftime for Tagovailoa against Georgia in the CFP title game.

One furious Tide comeback and an overtime 2nd-and-26 pass later, Tagovailoa went from being a talented true freshman waiting his turn to eventually usurping Hurts as the starter entering 2018. Problem was, Alabama’s new sweet Hawaiian prince injured his ankle against Georgia (sound familiar?) in the SEC title game … and Hurts was right there to lead the Tide to victory.

Once Hurts left for Oklahoma as a graduate transfer, Alabama went from having two Heisman Trophy-caliber QBs back to one … along with Mac Jones, a third-stringer who thus far had held the clipboard for the guy who held the clipboard.

Jones was pretty much limited to appearing in games as a point-after kick and field-goal holder (starting 20 games in that role alone…) and as the guy who replaced Tagovailoa in the second half of blowouts. That was until Tagovailoa injured his right ankle late in the first half of the Oct. 19 game against Tennessee.

Suddenly, trying to figure out how to split playing time between Jalen and Tua didn’t seem like a bad idea in comparison to the prospect of the Mac Jones Era taking over in Tuscaloosa. Tagovailoa’s injury — a severe high-ankle sprain that required “tight-rope” surgery — would keep him out at least for Saturday’s Arkansas game.

Jones made his first start count against the Razorbacks. A game plan engineered by offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian minimized Jones’ exposure to mistakes and let him make smart decisions and throws that kept the Tide offense moving.

“I think Coach Sark did a really good job just getting me comfortable … and take what they give me,” Jones said. “You know we had some short plays early on, but we have the best players so let them make the plays down the field and take what they give you, like Coach Saban says. So overall, everyone executed and it worked out good.

“It was a good night. I mean at the end of the day, I just told everybody to just do their job and everything would work out and take it play by play. That’s kind of what we wanted to do throughout the week, just focus on what you had to do and each play has a life of its own and, you know, just play each play.”

All told, Jones was the QB for 8 Alabama drives — 7 produced points including 5 touchdowns including a 40-yard score from Jones to Jerry Jeudy. That gave Alabama a 48-0 lead and was the last play before Jones gave way to Taulia Tagovailoa … in theory the next in line of a long legacy of backup QBs.

“I think it’s always the plan with your quarterback, if you can give him some easy completions early in the game, it’s always helpful confidence-wise,” Saban said. “We do that even with Tua when he plays. But we weren’t afraid to throw the ball down the field. And we weren’t afraid to do anything that we normally would do with Mac. And I thought he did a really good job in the game and played within himself and made really good decisions.”

Arkansas coach Chad Morris agreed.

“I think that they, as we knew they would, put a plan together for (Jones) that they felt comfortable in, getting the ball underneath in space and letting his athletes and his wide receivers get out in space,” Morris said. “And that’s been a challenge not just for us, but for every team they’ve played. I thought they did a great job of that. I thought he came in and played well.”

An off week lays ahead for the top-ranked Crimson Tide, a week more for Tagovailoa’s ankle to heal. Best-case scenario, Tagovailoa is back at 100 percent for a showdown with No. 2 LSU on Nov. 9.

But if not … the Mac Jones Era could continue for one more week.