{"id":877514,"date":"2026-10-10T14:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877514\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T14:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:08:29","slug":"footage-shows-nick-saban-benching-jalen-hurts-in-cfp-title-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877514\/","title":{"rendered":"Footage shows Nick Saban benching Jalen Hurts in CFP title game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new ESPN documentary \u201cSaban,\u201d detailing the illustrious life and career of legendary college football coach Nick Saban, includes never-before-seen footage of a particularly well-known moment from Saban\u2019s time at Alabama.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary shows Saban\u2019s decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/01\/09\/alabama-rides-freshman-backup-qb-to-wild-ot-championship-win\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bench Jalen Hurts at halftime<\/a> of the 2018 national championship game in favor of Tua Tagovailoa. <\/p>\n<p>Alabama went on to defeat Georgia to win the title.<\/p>\n<p>In a sit-down interview for the documentary, Saban described how he told the coaches he was making the change. Then-offensive coordinator Brian Daboll asked Saban who would tell Hurts, and Saban replied, \u201cDoes that mean you want me to tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41263517\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-902775122.jpg\" alt=\"Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) stands on the sideline surrounded by coaches and staff members during the CFP National Championship.\" class=\"wp-image-41263517\"\/>Alabama head coach Nick Saban leads his team on the field before the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Georgia, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Atlanta. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wow. Never-before-seen locker room footage of Nick Saban telling Jalen Hurts he was turning to Tua Tagovailoa in the 2017 National Championship Game. <\/p>\n<p>(via &#8220;Saban&#8221; on ESPN App) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ljttHhfBFr\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/ljttHhfBFr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Schultz_Report\/status\/2108380718640599258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">October 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The clip cuts to the locker room, where Saban gestures to Tagovailoa and says, \u201cWe\u2019ll choose as we go, but you\u2019re gonna start the second half, and then we\u2019re gonna play two guys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saban explains that he knew \u201cit was the time\u201d to make the change at the half with Alabama down 13-0 and Hurts having thrown for only 21 yards.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.56574924;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41263565\" width=\"924\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-902782628.jpg\" alt=\"Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa puts on his helmet during the CFP National Championship game against Georgia.\" class=\"wp-image-41263565\"\/>Tua Tagovailoa (13) of the Alabama Crimson Tide adjusts his helmet during the second half against the Georgia Bulldogs in the CFP National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Later in the clip, Hurts addressed the moment, saying he \u201ccan\u2019t say that I was surprised\u201d before trailing off to a long pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a competitor,\u201d Saban said. \u201cHe wants to play. He wants to do well. No different than anybody else that ever played the sport. Nobody wants to be insignificant, but I didn\u2019t make that decision in two minutes. I made it in two minutes, but I thought about it for two months. You don\u2019t just make emotional decisions like, \u2018I\u2019m really frustrated we\u2019re not moving the ball right now, so I\u2019m gonna change quarterbacks.\u2019 No, it was calculated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision worked out well for Saban and the Crimson Tide. Tagovailoa threw three touchdowns, including the game-winner to DeVonta Smith in overtime, in the 26-23 Alabama win.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new ESPN documentary \u201cSaban,\u201d detailing the illustrious life and career of legendary college football coach Nick Saban,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1603,1607,399,1806,398,396,397,9534,99,1835,21294],"class_list":["post-877514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-jalen-hurts","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nick-saban","tag-sports","tag-tua-tagovailoa","tag-university-of-alabama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}