While most of the country was able to celebrate Oklahoma's Kyler Murray winning the 2018 Heisman Trophy on Saturday, a number of Alabama players didn't appreciate seeing their quarterback finish second in the voting.
Per Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press, Murray beat out Tua Tagovailoa for college football's top individual honor by 296 points (2,167 to 1,871).
After Murray was announced as the winner, Tagovailoa's teammates and coaches used Twitter to voice their displeasure with the result:
Isaiah D. Buggs @BigPooh_91Tua Suppose To Bring that Heisman Trophy back home.
Isaiah D. Buggs @BigPooh_91Dec 29 it’s up✊🏾
Mack Wilson ³⁰ @iam__mw3oMake them regret it 13.. Not saying Kyler isn’t good but he took 200 snaps more than Tua 🤷🏾♂️
Thomas Fletcher @longsnapfletchDon’t they know not to poke the bear....?
Coach Brent Key @CoachBrentKey#Dec29
Former Alabama players also expressed their unhappiness (warning: contains sensitive language):
Parker Barrineau @parkerbarrineauTUA WAS ROBBED bc of a sprained ankle
Will Lowery @jwlowery29Disappointing that @HeismanTrophy voters recognize and reward gross stats against extremely weak competition more than extraordinary & consistent efficiency in the toughest conference. Or maybe it’s just #Bamafatigue . Maybe they’ll recognize when it’s Bama by 50 in a few weeks.
Austin Shepherd @AShep79I hope we beat the dog shit out of Oklahoma now
Tagovailoa appeared to be the Heisman favorite all season, but OddsShark had Murray moving ahead of the Crimson Tide sophomore for the first time after Oklahoma won the Big 12 Championship by defeating Texas last Saturday.
That same day, Tagovailoa had his worst performance of the year with 164 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. He also left in the fourth quarter because of an ankle injury that required surgery.
Murray had a statistical advantage over Tagovailoa with a higher completion percentage (70.9 to 67.7), 700 more passing yards (4,053 to 3,353) and three more touchdown passes (40 to 37). Tagovailoa posted his numbers in just 575 snaps, compared to 785 for Murray.
Despite the anger boiling over in Tuscaloosa tonight, Tagovailoa and Alabama will have a chance to get revenge against Murray and the Sooners when the two teams square off at the Orange Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
