In the aftermath of a 37-point victory over Louisville that would have satisfied most men in his profession, Nick Saban was irritated.

Before he made his way back to the locker room at Camping World Stadium, the Alabama coach faced yet another question about his quarterbacks.

This one came from ESPN's Maria Taylor, and Saban snapped.

"I think both guys are good players," he hissed. "I think both guys can help our team, all right? So why do you continually try to get me to say something that doesn't respect one of them? I'm not going to. So quit asking."

The impudent response prompted a backlash against Saban and later an apology from the coach. But in many ways it was educational, offering a revealing glimpse illustrating Saban's discomfort with an awkward situation that only figures to become more complicated in the weeks to come.

To give Tua Tagovailoa his rightful opportunity to command Alabama's offense, Saban had to take that responsibility away from Jalen Hurts -- a player the Crimson Tide coach clearly admires, in part, because he plays the position in the cautious manner Saban has long favored and has won while doing so.

For Saban, this has not been an easy decision even though all the evidence would suggest it should have been just that. Since the end of last season, Tagovailoa has consistently outperformed Hurts behind closed doors and on the most public of stages. He did so again Saturday, when he completed a higher percentage of passes and directed five scoring drives to Hurts' one.

The contrasting success rates of both quarterbacks corroborated what everyone saw eight months ago against Georgia, when Tagovailoa relieved Hurts, reignited Alabama's sagging offense and led the Tide to its 17th national championship.

But after the rout of Louisville, Saban indicated how it was never his intention to completely move on from Hurts.

"I wanted Tua to play somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 plays and then we're going to put Jalen in the game," Saban said. "It didn't matter how it went. It didn't matter what the score was."

But by using Hurts in a reserve capacity, Saban inched ever closer toward another uncomfortable situation with the junior quarterback -- one that involves his remaining college eligibility. Hurts can preserve another year if he plays in four games or fewer, and that would be valuable if he has designs on transferring once he graduates from Alabama as he's on track to do in December. After all, an elite program would be more willing to invest in Hurts if he can play multiple seasons instead of one.

Yet Saban has indicated he wants to deploy Hurts on a consistent basis this year, which would jeopardize the quarterback's opportunity to redshirt in 2018 even though it would maintain the safety net at the Tide's most important position going forward.

"We're going to continue to have both these guys be weapons for us on offense because I think they can," he said. "And I hope both guys can do a good job of preparing and managing to get ready for the game so that they can contribute to our team in a positive way."

But under the current arrangement, is this the best course of action for Hurts, Tagovailoa and most importantly Alabama?

It's a question that was never posed in the media room where Saban held his postgame news conference, yet lingered in the passageway outside where the players gathered to board a bus.

It's here where DeVonta Smith was repeatedly asked about Tagovailoa's stellar play and where the sophomore receiver refused to single out the Hawaiian southpaw for praise.

"No matter who the quarterback is we all have chemistry," he said. "No matter who it is, we're rolling."

Saban and the Tide would like for that to be the case. But the evidence shows otherwise. Once again on Saturday, Tagovailoa made it extremely difficult for Saban to rationalize playing Hurts, and it has created a quandary that has left the Alabama coach hot and bothered to the point that no media member -- even a reporter from ESPN -- is safe from his wrath.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin