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ESPN's new Nick Saban doc shows the moment he benched Jalen Hurts
ESPN’s new documentary about Nick Saban features never-before-seen footage of Saban benching Jalen Hurts in favor of Tua Tagovailoa during halftime of the 2018 national championship game. Tua went on to spark the Crimson Tide’s offense to life in their 26-23 overtime victory over the Georgia Bulldogs.
The six-part docuseries Saban, which premiered Thursday, October 8, shows the moment the legendary college football head coach benched quarterback Jalen Hurts for freshman Tua Tagovailoa in the national championship game against Georgia.
ESPN’s docuseries Saban released never-before-seen footage of Nick Saban’s halftime decision to replace Jalen Hurts with Tua Tagovailoa in the 2018 National Championship
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.
(via “Saban” on ESPN App) https://t.co/ljttHhfBFr
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 9, 2026
The game — played January 8, 2018, at the end of the 2017 season — saw Alabama trailing 13-0 at halftime, with Hurts having just 21 passing yards. Saban says he knew it “was the time” to make the change, and that he’d “thought about it for two months.” In the clip, Hurts says he “can’t say that I was surprised.”
“I didn’t know there was something when I told, you know, Tua that he was going in at halftime for Jalen,” Saban told Rich Eisen of the moment. “But this is a real live look at it from inside out.”
In the second half and overtime, Tagovailoa went 14-of-24 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, with his 41-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith on 2nd-and-26 winning the title.
Hurts, who’d already led Alabama to two title games, spent 2018 as Tagovailoa’s backup before transferring to Oklahoma for his final college football season. The Eagles drafted him in the second round in 2020, while Miami took Tagovailoa with the fifth overall pick that same year.
The QBs’ NFL careers have taken different paths, however, as Hurts has gone on to become a Super Bowl MVP with the Eagles, while Tua is currently serving as a backup to Michael Penix in Atlanta.