Nick Saban's Quote Following Tua Tagovailoa Hip Injury Will Infuriate Alabama Fans
By Andy Loughmiller
Alabama will need to be close to perfect for the remainder of the college football regular season if they want to climb back into the top four after their loss to LSU a week ago. Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down with an injury late in the second half of their Week 12 game, and now fans will be left to wonder why he was even playing in the first place.
Bama fans who were hoping to see Tagovailoa sit this one out in order to ensure that he is healthy for the end of the season will not be pleased with Saban's decision to keep him in the game despite being up by a large margin vs. Mississippi State.
#Bama coach Nick Saban at halftime interview on Tua: "That was going to be his last series. We were going to put Mac in and we said ‘Let’s put Tua in before the half for 2-minute (drill) just for practice."
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 16, 2019
Alabama fans must be furious right now. Tagovailoa is one of the best players in all of college football. He really didn't need to practice the two-minute offense vs. a team that he had already decimated in the first half.
The National Championship-winning signal-caller was carted off the field near the end of the half with a hip injury.
This is NOT a good look for Nick Saban at all. Tua beat down, couldn’t get off the field on his own power.
— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) November 16, 2019
You’re up by 28 in the second quarter!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/O1dzdDmsKF
This is a player who was already banged up entering the game and has a history of being injury prone. It was borderline reckless to have Tagovailoa continue to play in this contest when Alabama was already leading by four touchdowns.
Alabama is in a position where they need to blow out every team left on their schedule, but they had already accomplished that. There was no need to risk the health of their best player while doing so.