Again, I'm not understanding what a "risky" offense is. Army and its option attack would be using a risky offense by going air-raid between game 3 and game 4. But no one does that. You have your offense and you practice it until it's automatic. A Mike Leach offense is no more risky than a Barry Alvarez offense.
Here, let me see if I can provide an example of what you're trying to say.
Alabama threw a lot more in 2018 than in 2017. Makes sense, they had a better passer at QB, going from Hurts to Tua. Tagovailoa threw the ball 100 more times than Hurts did just the year before. And you can even think back further - Saban wanting to minimize risk (perceived risk), throwing the ball some, but relying on 2 good RBs, a great OL, and his special defenses every year to win rings.
You guys are saying pre-Tua Saban had a less risky offense. And thus, with Tua, he opened his offense up with more passing, so it became riskier. <<<< Please correct me if I'm wrong here.
If I'm right, then I still disagree.
Alabama passed more because Tua was a much better passer. Hurts only threw 1 INT in 2018! OMG how safe! How risk-adverse! Then why in the holy hell would Bama throw 100 additional times the next season? Answer: because they could, because it was worth it, and because it expanded the advantage they already had vs everyone on their schedule.
No, Bama didn't stand pat. Yes, they threw more INTs in 2018. But their offense was on jet fuel.
Look:
2017 Hurts
0.4 INT Rate
60.4% completion rate
8.2 yards per attempt
150.2 rating
2017 Offense overall
6.6 yards per play
37.1 points per game
--------------------
2018 Tagovailoa
1.7 INT Rate (omg, 4x more than in 2017)
69.0% completion rate
11.2 yards per attempt
199.4 rating
2018 Offense overall
7.8 yards per play
45.6 points per game
Obviously, there's plenty of noise in these numbers. But, Alabama had every incentive to stand pat - to avoid risk, as you say. But there was incentive to pass more. NOT run a riskier offense, but to simply pass more, with a better QB.
The additional turnovers (only 6 INT) was well worth the better completion percentage, massive improvement in yards per attempt, and an all-time great QB rating.
Doing what they did wasn't risky, it was smart. They had an advantage over everyone on their schedule doing what they had done every year on offense under Saban, but they saw a way to extend that advantage and did so.