Quick Hit: Nick Saban Describes Tua Tagovailoa's Hip as a "Freak Injury"
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Nick Saban and the University of Alabama football players weren't in much of a mood for talking Saturday afternoon.
Even though the Crimson Tide dominated Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium, 38-7, the loss of junior quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a hip injury had everyone in a somber mood.
[Note: Alabama announced later Saturday that Tagovailoa would miss the rest of the season]
Here's some of what the Crimson Tide said:
Coach Nick Saban
"I was really pleased with the way our team came out and played, especially in the first half. We really wanted to try to sort of reestablish who we were as a team and go out there and play with great effort and toughness and discipline to execute and do our job well and being relentless in the way we competed in the game. I thought we did that on both sides of the ball. Obviously, the one thing that we had some poor judgments and poor decisions in terms of penalties, which created some negative situations that we had to overcome. But in some cases we did, and I was really proud of the way our guys competed in the game.
"I know that everybody’s most interested in Tua’s situation. He has a hip injury. It’s going to be evaluated. I don’t think it’s related to any other injury that he has. It’s kind of a freak thing that you seldom see. So, I don’t really have anything else to say about that, and we’ll kind of go from there.
"I think Raekwon [Davis] has a sprained ankle. DJ Dale has a twisted knee or whatever. A couple of others are beat up. [Henry Ruggs III] came out with bruised ribs. We’ll see where that takes us. That is about it from the injury standpoint. I was really pleased with how our guys prepared all week and came out and played in the game."
What went into making Tua Tagovailoa a game-time decision?
"We felt like if he could move in pregame, which we took him out before pregame before the team ever went out and worked him out. He was good. He was at least as good as he was a week ago in terms of his ability to move, and I didn’t think that anything that he did affected his performance in this game in the first half. So, the guy played, and I thought he played really well. We hate it that he got injured. We hate it for him. We hate it for his family. I hate it if any player on our team gets injured. So, godspeed to him and his entire family, and our thoughts and prayers are with him. Hopefully, this is not so serious that it has any longterm effect on his future as a player.
"I really do not know the severity of what he has. We are going to take him to Birmingham, so CAT scans and MRIs [can be done] and find [what the severity is]. We can second guess ourselves all we want. We told Mac [Jones] to warm up two minutes before the half. Tua wanted to play in the game. I don't really make a lot of decisions based on worrying about guys getting hurt or I would have taken Raekwon our and Ruggs out and everybody else that got hurt out. We have total confidence in Mac. I thought Mac did a good job when he went in the game."
What is the value in having Tagovailoa run the 2-minute offense?
"Look, the way I look at this whole thing is Tua’s our No. 1 quarterback. If he’s physically able to play, we wanted to play him in the game. That’s what he wanted to do, and that’s what our team wanted to do. If I would know that anything bad was going to happen, I certainly wouldn’t have put him in that situation, but we’re a team. And we’re a team that’s trying to get better in the longterm, in the long run to see if we can finish the season the way we want, and I hate it that the guy got hurt."
How do you coach the players to still be aggressive but not have personal fouls?
"It’s the same old stuff. We had a couple of those today. I mean, you want guys to play with great emotion. You don’t want them to be emotional and make bad decisions. And we need to a better job of that. I mean, the penalties have been a problem, and it’s very disappointing to me that we can’t make better decisions about when the whistle blows to stop playing. So, we’ll just keep working on it. I don’t think anybody wants to get a penalty. I just think people have to make better decisions about they do so they do not get a penalty."
Why is the offense not fazed when faced with third-and-long situations?
"That has been something we have done a good job of all year long. We don't really want to create those situations, especially in this game, because we felt like their MO is trying to give you negative plays. Then they have a pretty exotic third-down package of a lot of odd, different pressures. We were trying to avoid those situations today. I know we overcame some. Some of them were caused by penalties and things of that nature. We need to do a better job of keeping ourselves out of those situations."
Running back Najee Harris
The coaches are very impressed with the way you've been playing the last couple of weeks. How do you feel?
"We'll see in film. I'm doing alright. I have a lot of stuff to work on still. I made a couple of mistakes out there."
With a four-touchdown performance, do you not feel good about yourself?
"I’m just hurt about our quarterback. I’m not in the mood to answer questions, to be honest, so that is why I’m giving short answers. I’m not trying to be rude to anybody. I’m just not in the mood right now, really."
What does that say about what Tagovailoa means to this team as a player?
"He means a lot to the team. That’s our guy. I came here the same time that he did. We’ve been friends ever since my freshman year, and to see him go down like that really hurts."
A lot of people got injured today. Was this a particularly hard-hitting game?
"No, it's just the wear and tear of the season. It's about that time where people go down with injuries and stuff."
Do you feel like you're seeing the hole better this year? Have you worked on your jump-cut or anything?
"It's just more opportunities to see how fast the game is and see things. It's more comfortable."
Safety Xavier McKinney
How did you all push through the game?
"I'm just trying to keep going no matter who goes down and no matter what happens. We're just trying to focus on that. I thought during halftime, we were just trying to sharpen up what we were already doing and trying to get better with that."
Coming off of last week, what was the focus this week?
"Just do your job. That's kind of the focus all the time; just do your job. I feel like a lot of the times we have got to have everybody doing their job. If everybody does that, we'll be able to execute well."
What did you see on Shane Lee's interception?
"I didn't even really see it, but I know he picked it. I saw he got tackled by the quarterback out there, and I was kind of on him for that because he should have scored. That was a big play in the game. It was early. I feel like that was good for us."
