Bama won but the reputations of both Marler and Arians skyrocketed that day. “They couldn’t get to me before I had time to throw it,” said Marler, who passed for 429 yards, at that time the most Alabama had ever allowed in a single game. “I was basically a stationary quarterback.”Īrians, with Bob Tyler’s blessing, scrapped the playbook and just put Marler in the shotgun. “I couldn’t move more than two or three yards without excruciating pain,” Marler said. That strategy became even more important when Marler pulled a thigh muscle kicking in pre-game warmups. Arians had an idea: Put Marler in the shotgun, a full eight yards behind the line of scrimmage to buy him more time. State coaches, including Arians, were worried about protecting Marler against Bama’s fierce pass rush. It featured Jeff Rutledge at quarterback, Tony Nathan at running back, Marty Lyons in the defensive line, Barry Krauss at linebacker. As was so often the case then and now, that Alabama team would go on to win a national championship. Perhaps Marler’s best memory of his one year with Arians came against Alabama and that man. “I could not tell that man, ‘No,’” he said, not needing to say what man he was talking about. I covered that State team as a beat, and I remember asking him why he left. The following off-season, he left State for Bama and Bryant. He was part of the coaching staff on the 1980 team that beat No. He worked for Tyler and Emory Bellard in his first stop at State. In the NFL, he has had stops in Kansas City, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis again, Arizona and Tampa Bay. His first head coaching job was at Temple. He has had two stops at State, two more at Alabama. It also indicates that it takes more than a glance to even begin to comprehend the odyssey that has been Arians’ career. If you look back at his career and the quarterbacks he’s coached, most of them had some of the best years of their careers when they played for him.”Ī glance at Arians’ career indicates just that. He tries to take all the stress and clutter out of a quarterback’s mind. He understood what a quarterback goes through. He had been a quarterback, he thought like a quarterback. “He was just three years older than I was. “What’s amazing to me thinking back on it was that Bruce and I were nearly the same age,” Marler said. Marler still marvels at memories from 1978. Long story made short: Marler broke State and SEC passing records and became first team All-Southeastern Conference in his only season as a Division I quarterback. Dave Marler led Mississippi State to a 34-21 victory over Tennessee in 1978 at Liberty Bowl Stadium in Memphis.
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