Nick Saban shares funny Tua Tagovailoa story from Alabama

A YouTube short by the channel No Huddle Shorts has put Nick Saban and Tua Tagovailoa’s old national-title exchange back into heavy rotation. The clip is titled “Nick Saban Shares Hilaruous Tua Tagovailoa Story,” credits @RichEisenShow for the interview.

The line that travels is short. Tagovailoa, then a true freshman, told his coach he had taken a sack because Alabama “needed more room to throw the ball.”

Saban’s answer, in Tagovailoa’s later telling, was “that’s not funny.”

The exchange sits inside the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 8, 2018. Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime. Tagovailoa replaced starter Jalen Hurts in the second half. In overtime he took a sack — one outlet called it second-and-21, Sportskeeda called it “2nd and 26” — then threw a 41-yard game-winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. The victory was Saban’s sixth national title overall and his fifth with Alabama.

Tagovailoa recounted the aftermath on The Rich Eisen Show on Feb. 1, 2020. “I could only see it on camera, how mad he was,” he said. “That was probably the most pissed off though I think he’s ever been at me. He was squeezing his headset so hard.”

Even after the win, Saban stayed locked on the sack once the team reached the locker room. “When we got into the locker room when everything settled down, he was still the same coach,” Tagovailoa said on the show. “He pulled me to the side like ‘what were you thinking taking a sack?’” He added: “Being who he is… he pulled me to the side and said, you know, ‘why did you take the sack?’”

Tagovailoa said he tried a joke. He told Saban, “well we needed more room to throw the ball, coach.” Saban answered, “that’s not funny.” Tagovailoa said he replied, “OK, I’m sorry coach,” then shook Saban’s hand, after which Saban moved on, according to the account of the Eisen appearance carried by Sportskeeda and other outlets that transcribed the interview.

Saban floated the same punchline himself weeks after the game. At a Mercedes event on a Saturday in February 2018, a Roll Tide Bama forum post dated Feb. 25, 2018 reported, Saban joked to an interviewer: “I asked Tua after the game, I said, ‘Why did you take a sack when we needed a field goal to stay in the game?’ He said he just needed more room to throw the ball. That’s how it happened.”