Given that the game was over in the first quarter, the story from last night’s 51-14 demolition of Louisville by No. 1 Alabama was Nick Saban outburst toward ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor.
As the two gathered for the standard post-game interview, Taylor led off with a completely fair and totally obvious question about Tua Tagovailoa. Alabama kept its quarterback decision secret until kickoff -- camera shots indicated not even Tagovailoa’s parents knew their son would get the nod -- even though the decision was obvious to pretty much everyone once Tagovailoa’s rainbow found DeVonta Smith‘s hands in overtime of the Tide’s national championship win over Georgia in January. Heck, the story out of Alabama’s fall camp was Jalen Hurts saying the Alabama coaches had conceded the job to Tagovailoa in the spring.
So after Tagovailoa made good on his first career start by completing 12-of-16 passes for 227 yards with two touchdown (plus another on the ground), Taylor naturally wanted to lead the interview asking Saban about that performance. “What answers did you find about your quarterbacks?” was the exact wording of her question.
“I still like both guys, I think both guys are good players. I think both guys can help our team,” Saban said. “So why do you continually try to say something that doesn’t respect one of them. I’m not going to, so quit asking.”
Wow. Nick Saban was FEISTY with Maria Taylor. pic.twitter.com/zlEq4PHd13
— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) September 2, 2018
ESPN’s Chris Fowler defended Taylor on Twitter, and Taylor seized the moment to revel in the moment.
excellent colleague @MariaTaylor7 asked a fair QB question of Saban - which he must have misinterpreted - and he blew his stack. Unwarranted. It’s a cumulative thing, but NO intent to “disrespect” Hurts. (May be a long, uncomfortable year of press conferences in T-town!)
— Chris Fowler (@cbfowler) September 2, 2018
Don’t mind me...Just doing my job. On to the next game. See you at @VT_Football at @FSUFootball
— Maria Taylor (@MariaTaylor) September 2, 2018
According to James Miller, Saban called Taylor Saturday night to apologize. The author of the oral histories on ESPN, “Saturday Night Live” and the CAA agency, Miller produced a narrative podcast on Saban’s rise through the coaching ranks, so the sourcing on this one was probably pretty good.
Last night #NickSaban called and apologized to @MariaTaylor7 #RollTide #mariataylor
— james andrew miller (@JimMiller) September 2, 2018
All in all, the Saturday night brouhaha was a minor controversy, though Saban did act unprofessionally -- and honestly -- to a fair question, so an apology was warranted.
