KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- First things first, Tua Tagovailoa’s knee is fine.

The quarterback could have gone back into Alabama’s 58-21 win over Tennessee on Saturday, head coach Nick Saban said, but he decided to put Jalen Hurts into the game, leading 51-14.

His exit did, however, come after Tagovailoa took a shot on a 41-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III. The sophomore popped up before trainers could reach him on the field and walked off under his own power. He explained what happened when he was down a second week in a row.

“I feel something, and I want to make sure I’m good before I get up,” Tagovailoa said after the game. “... I think he stepped on my leg and then my knee kinda, it just buckled. But that was it.”

Tagovailoa threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns on 19-of-29 passing inside Neyland Stadium. This came after a week of questions surrounding whether the southpaw would even play because of a sprained knee he re-injured in the Missouri game. But it wasn’t an issue Saturday.

The quarterback faced some adversity against the Vols, though.

“He’s had the week for two weeks, so he was a lot better this week than last in terms of practice, and I think he’s getting better and better,” Saban said. “It was really windy out there today, I mean really windy, and the wind had a big impact on the game. And a few of his passes that he would normally make, I think, were affected a little bit. He was probably affected a little bit, throwing into a little bit of a crosswind. But I thought he played really well in the game.”

Alabama running back Damien Harris (left) blocks for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at Tennessee.

Tagovailoa also saw things differently on the field.

“The slope on the field is a little different out here,” Tagovailoa said. “It kind of goes up, it kind of goes down. So, we kind of had to adjust to that.”

Tagovailoa’s 306 yards passing against the Volunteers is his third 300-yard passing game of the season, which matches the UA single-season record shared by Gary Hollingsworth (1989), Jay Barker (1994) and AJ McCarron (2013). In five games against SEC opponents, Tagovailoa has thrown for 1,483 yards and 17 touchdowns on 74-of-109 passing (.679) for a rating of 233.64.

With four touchdown passes against the Vols, Tagovailoa now has 25 in eight games, which ranks No. 4 on the Alabama single-season touchdown list. McCarron is the UA leader with 30 in 2012. McCarron (2013) and Blake Sims (2014) are tied for second with 28.

Alabama’s 545 yards in total offense against Tennessee marked the eighth time the Tide has topped 500 yards this season and the 20th time in the last 52 games. This is Alabama’s first eight-game run of 500-yard total offense performances in program history.



On Saturday, UA had four receivers with 50 yards or more, as freshman receiver Jaylen Waddle led the group with 117 yards and a 77-yard touchdown on four receptions. Tagovailoa also threw touchdown passes to Jerry Jeudy, Irv Smith Jr. and Henry Ruggs III in Knoxville.

Tua is special.



It's literally impossible to throw a football better than this. pic.twitter.com/pR6Jiwj37X — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 20, 2018

“At the beginning of the year, I said we would have a different kind of team this year,” Saban said. “We have four really good receivers. They make tough, contested catches. They took some big hits after making catches. They made some great catches on long balls. The quarterback is a naturally instinctive guy. He understands what he is supposed to do.

“I think we have two really good offensive tackles. The protection today was really good. There were a couple of plays where we had a lot of time. If we were in a 7-on-7, I would tell the offensive guys they were cheating with me being a defensive guy. It is really good that we have that kind of protection. That is the kind of team that we have.”

Tagovailoa added: “I am very confident. But it makes it more fun when you don’t just have one person to throw to, but you have running backs that you can make plays with, too. It is just fun out here.”

Tagovailoa has directed 62 drives as Alabama’s quarterback this season with 41 resulting in touchdowns and five culminating in field goals for 46 total scoring drives (74.2). In those drives, the Crimson Tide is 28-for-43 (65.1) on third down, accounting for 3,009 yards on 315 snaps for an average of 9.55 yards per play and 299 of the 388 points scored by the UA offense.

With his three first-half touchdown passes against Tennessee, Tagovailoa has now thrown three or more scoring tosses in the opening half of Alabama’s last four SEC games. He is 46-for-66 with 983 yards passing and 12 touchdowns in the first half of his last four games.

“Tua’s a really positive guy,” Saban said. “He’s driven to want to be a really good player, so he tries to do all the things that he can to improve and get better. He doesn’t get satisfied very easily, and I think that’s the key to overcoming adversity when you have. And I think he’s done a good job.”

WATCH VIDEO OF TAGOVAILOA'S POSTGAME INTERVIEW AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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