Playing Tua Tagovailoa Against Lowly Mississippi State Would Be an Irresponsible Move by Nick Saban

It's entirely understandable Nick Saban opted to deploy a hobbled Tua Tagovailoa for last weekend's SEC showdown against LSU. After all, it was the biggest game of the year and Alabama's head coach was meticulous with examining his star signal caller all week during practice.

Even though the Crimson Tide fell to the Tigers, they still have a chance of making it to the College Football Playoff.

What we're trying to say is that Alabama could potentially have a shot at playing for the national title, so playing Tagovaila on Saturday versus an inferior Mississippi State side would be an irresponsible move by Saint Nick. Let us explain why.

The Crimson Tide are tabbing Tua a game-time decision for their tilt against the Bulldogs, so they could still end up sitting him, but the fact that it's come this far when he's evidently not close to 100 percent is simply not the way Bama should be managing their most important player.

Why not give Tagovailoa another week to get that ankle as close to fully healthy as possible for the stretch run?

Folks, Alabama is favored by 18 points today. They should easily dispose of Mississippi State without Tua under center, and if they aren't confidence in their chances to do so without No. 13, well, that tells us all we need to know about how far they can go.

Sit the southpaw QB today against the Bulldogs and even hold him out for next weekend's game against Western Carolina.

That would give Tagovailoa two full weeks of enduring no hits on that ankle and he'd be set up swimmingly for the Nov. 30 matchup versus Auburn.