Nick Saban just cost Alabama a Playoff spot by playing Tua in garbage time

Nick Saban just cost the Alabama Crimson Tide a College Football Playoff spot by playing Tua Tagovailoa in garbage time, as he just got seriously injured.

UPDATE: Tua Tagovailoa will miss the rest of the season with a dislocated hip with a posterior wall fracture.

In a game that the Alabama Crimson Tide was going to beat the ever-living snot out of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Crimson Tide just saw its season end in a game that they were going to win anyway.

Already up 35-7 on the road against Mississippi State, Alabama head coach Nick Saban left his starting quarterback in a series too long, as Tua Tagovailoa had to exit the game with a serious hip injury and a bloody nose. Tagovailoa could not put any pressure on his injured leg and was carted off the field.

This was the one thing that absolutely could not have happened to Alabama in this SEC West rivalry game. If Tagovailoa cannot play the rest of the season, then Alabama will not make the College Football Playoff in any capacity. Even if they were to win out, this team would not have the enticing firepower to merit being a one-loss, at-large team in the College Football Playoff field.

Alabama entered play on Saturday as the No. 5 team after losing at home to the LSU Tigers last week. With LSU having the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Crimson Tide, Alabama’s chances of winning the SEC West and playing for a conference championship are slim to none. So they’d have to get in as an at-large at 11-1 (7-1) and possibly without their best player the rest of the way.

Sure, Tagovailoa’s backup Mac Jones can lead the Crimson Tide to victory in their final three games: this one at Mississippi State that has already been pretty much decided, at home vs. the Western Carolina Catamounts and on the road against the arch rival Auburn Tigers. Then again, can we really trust Jones to lead the Crimson Tide to victory down on The Plains in a huge spot?

Regardless, there isn’t a ton of positives you can take away from this game for Alabama when you think about its College Football Playoff aspirations. If Tagovailoa is somehow back for the Auburn game and they win, then maybe the Crimson Tide somehow sneaks back into the top-four in dramatic fashion? However, the Crimson Tide’s stature will take a hit without him going forward.

At the end of the day, you can’t blame Saban for playing Tagovailoa in this game if he was healthy enough to suit up. However, with his team being up four scores before halftime, that was a strong sign Tagovailoa’s day should have been done. Tagovailoa already missed half of the Tennessee Volunteers rivalry game with a high ankle sprain and all the Arkansas Razorbacks game.

This latest injury ruins his Heisman Trophy dreams completely. He may not even receive an invitation to attend the presentation ceremony in early December because he might miss a combined four games in his eight-game season if this injury is as bad as we think it is. This injury hurts his NFL Draft stock and makes it so incredibly difficult for Alabama to make the Playoff.

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