LSU Football: Tua Tagovailoa’s injury helps LSU, but let’s not root for it

Even though Tua Tagovailoa’s high ankle sprain could help the LSU football team reach the College Football Playoff, fans should refrain from rooting for the injury.

The LSU football team continued its trek to the National Championship with a 36-13 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. LSU understandably got off to a slow start on the road, but still managed to prove that they are levels ahead of the Bulldogs.

This coming a week after LSU defeated Florida to give the Tigers their second win over a top-10 ranked team, which finally gave the team the respect of being ranked in the top four.

Another game seemed to benefit the Tigers as well as Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a high ankle sprain against the Tennesee Volunteers. Tagovailoa had a procedure on the sprain on Sunday morning and is set to miss next week against Arkansas.

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Alabama will likely still get past Arkansas and that does not concern the Tigers. What does concern the Tigers is that they take on Alabama in three weeks in what could be the battle of the undefeated one vs. two.

The LSU football team has to get past Auburn this week first, which is no easy feat. However, they could probably still make the College Football Playoff if they had a fluky loss against Auburn but then beat Alabama the following week.

Tagovailoa is more than likely going to return against the Tigers as the Crimson Tide also have a bye week following next week. However, ankle injuries can be tricky and Tagovailoa might not be 100 percent on November 9.

That helps the LSU football team, there is no denying that. Not having to face Tagovailoa at 100 percent, while having Joe Burrow continue his trek towards the Heisman Trophy, is a big advantage in this game for LSU.

But as strong as the rivalry is, LSU fans have to refrain from rooting for that to be the case. An ugly part of fandom is rooting for injuries of other star players and Tiger fans should hold the higher ground and hope that Tagovailoa returns and is at full strength.

What would feel better, beating a full-strength LSU team with their Heisman-caliber quarterback at full strength, or beating an Alabama team that is on their backup quarterback? That is still quite the task, but beating Alabama with Tagovailoa is not only more impressive but will feel much more fulfilling.

Some fans might not see it that way and just want a win over Alabama at any cost. I get that, especially considering that Alabama has gotten the best of LSU in eight straight seasons.

But at the end of the day, to be the National Champions, LSU is going to have to be good enough to beat Alabama with Tagovailoa under center. If you’re confident in the Tigers, then Tagovailoa being in the game or not probably won’t even be a concern.