It's the default answer Nick Saban has given whenever he's been presented with the question that has intrigued the college football world since that January night when Alabama won its 17th national title with a theatrical climax in the overtime victory versus Georgia.

"Somebody's got to win the team," Saban repeated in July.

That's what Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa must accomplish in order to prevail in a quarterback competition that has gripped the country because of the controversy it has generated and the ambiguity that has surrounded it.

During the last seven months, both players have been locked in a struggle for a position Hurts once held with a vice-like grip. He won 24 of his first 25 college starts -- playing with preternatural composure and caution that appealed to the conservative, defensive-minded Saban.

But in a loss to rival Auburn last season, when the Crimson Tide managed to score only two touchdowns and jeopardized its postseason prospects in the process, Hurts was largely ineffective. The sophomore threw for only 112 yards. Then came a wan performance in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Clemson and the disastrous first half in the championship versus Georgia.

Just like that, the freshman Tagovailoa took center stage and transformed into an Alabama hero -- delivering a comeback and the 41-yard strike that pushed the Crimson Tide to right back to the top of a sport it has dominated for the better part of the last decade.

Nothing has been the same since. Riding a wave of momentum, Tagovailoa has continued his ascension. He has performed well throughout the team's fall camp. The ebullient Hawaiian southpaw has also won over fans with his upbeat personality and the panache he brings to the offense.

Hurts, meanwhile, had been tracking on a downward trajectory up until this past weekend, when he finally showed during the last scrimmage of fall camp he might just have the goods to hold off Tagovailoa. Before then, he was outclassed by third-string quarterback Mac Jones in the A-Day intrasquad game in April, when Tagovailoa watched while nursing the broken bone in his left hand he suffered at the outset of spring practice.

As Jones impressed, Hurts completed only 51 percent of his passes, threw an interception and failed to lead a single touchdown drive. He also had to deal with the fallout from an article in which his father fanned rumors about a possible transfer when he was quoted as saying Hurts would be "the biggest free agent in college football history."

During that period, Hurts claimed to have little contact with the coaches, which led to a communication breakdown that rankled the quarterback so much he spoke out against the program during the team's media day earlier this month.

"No one asked me what was on my mind," Hurts said. "No one asked me how I felt about the things that were going on. Nobody asked me what my future held. That's that. So now it's like when we try to handle the situation now, for me, it's kind of late, it's too late, the narrative has already been created."

In making that comment, Hurts expressed his state of helplessness and acknowledged he has lost a significant amount of control. But the erosion of power and influence has long been in the making. As days have gone by and new faces have emerged, Hurts has been adversely affected by the absence of starting-caliber offensive players in his recruiting class. There are only two -- left tackle Jonah Williams and tight end Irv Smith Jr. -- who play a significant number of snaps. On the other hand, Tua Tagovailoa was part of a wave of high-profile freshmen last season that included linemen Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills Jr., running back Najee Harris and three dynamic receivers -- Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and Smith. For someone trying to "win the team," this is a significant development.

After all, relationships are deeper among players who were recruited together and entered the program at the same time.

"A lot of the guys that I came in with, yeah, I'm closer with them than maybe other relationships that I've formed," senior running back Damien Harris said. "But I guess that dates back to your high school days and Under Armour combines and All-American games and things like that. But what you want to try to do with those relationships, you don't want to just kind of clique up."

Yet it happens.

In time, Tagovailoa's charisma has won over teammates. So too has his style of play. He is a gunslinger who operates the offense like a point guard. In the championship game, he targeted nine different players. Hurts, in contrast, relied mostly on Calvin Ridley, who has since moved on to the NFL. In Hurts' first 13 starts last season, Ridley caught 45 more passes than the second-leading wide receiver and was targeted far more frequently than any other player on the team. The imbalance in the passing game also coincided with a reduction in carries for the running backs because Hurts was a major component of the ground game. In 2016, as a freshman, Hurts accounted for 55 percent of the total offense, which was far greater than any share seized by a championship-winning quarterback in the Saban era.

The democratic approach Tagovailoa has applied toward the position is favored by a coaching staff who wants to maximize the arsenal of weapons it has stockpiled in recent seasons.

"You want to find ways to get them all involved," said offensive coordinator Mike Locksley.

And if that is the case it appears Tagovailoa is the leading contender to "win the team," to use Saban's words.

Of course, it's been trending in that direction for quite some time -- ever since that January day when Tagovailoa led Alabama to a national championship and raised a question that has sparked intrigue for the last seven months.

Jalen or Tua? Tua or Jalen?

"I know you're going to ask me about the quarterbacks," Saban said recently.

But he has yet to give an answer, letting others divine their own based on a set of criteria that clearly favors Tagovailoa -- the former understudy who has star potential.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin