The following is an open letter to Alabama coach Nick Saban, regarding the playing time of Crimson Tide junior quarterback Tua Tagovailoa …

Dear Nick,

First, I’d like to thank you. It is way easier writing every day about arguably the most dominant college football program in history than it would be, say, for my SDS brethren forced to conjure up stuff about teams like Ole Miss and South Carolina and Tennessee and Mississippi State. This is easy money, even if my thesaurus is nearly worn out on the “greatness” and “excellence” pages.

But there is one bone to pick, one that I’m slightly hesitant to bring up. You know best, I know. Six rings more than me. No statues of yours truly erected anywhere. And I’ve got a long ways to go to get into the SDS Hall of Fame (do we even have one?)

Anyway, now that I have you buttered up, here is the nit I’d like to pick:

Play Tua Tagovailoa more. Lots more.

Hear me out on this one. Yes, Alabama is winning. Lots. And your team this season is beating the tar out of teams with particular dominance — scoring almost 5 points to their every one (200-43 is the overall math) and doing so at almost a point-per-minute rate.

But speaking for a significant part of the populace, Nick, you’ve left quite a bit on the table by taking your sweet Hawaiian prince out of the game well before the Million Dollar Band fires up “Rammer Jammer” every weekend.

Yes, Nick, I am fully aware that the cupcakes that have been baked early on in 2019 aren’t doing my argument any favors. Duke, New Mexico State and Southern Miss haven’t exactly been circled on the schedule by anyone. But folks still buy tickets to watch the Harlem Globetrotters play a full game even though the Washington Generals haven’t taken a W off the Globies since 1971. Taking Big Easy or Hi Lite out for good up 45 on the Generals wouldn’t be very cricket at all.

And not only do we want to see what kind of destruction Tagovailoa could do if loosed on opponents for the full 60 minutes, we know the trophy case (or in Alabama’s instance, trophy cases) has been lacking a bit with Tagovailoa taking a seat at varying points of the 3rd quarter.

Had Tua played entire games in the 2018 season, he would have obliterated the SEC single-season mark for yards and TDs. He likely would have thrown for 15 bazillion yards and been voted No. 1, No. 2 *and* No. 3 on all the Heisman ballots. Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry were great running backs, no question. But for Tagovailoa to leave Tuscaloosa without Mr. Stiff Arm would be a statement to your stinginess and nothing else.

Looking just down the road a piece, we can’t help but to see LSU lighting it up with some guy named Joe Burrow. Any quarterback that makes it to his senior season can’t be all that great, but somehow this Burrow chap has been torching the East Popcorn Techs of the world so far this season and is ahead of Tagovailoa in almost all the statistical categories you never look at.

Completion percentage? Burrow is No. 1 in the country at 80.6 percent, while Tua is 4th at 77.7 percent.

Passing yards? Burrow is 2nd at 1,520 yards, Tua is 5th at 1,300.

Passing TDs? Ah ha, tied! Burrow and Tua both have 17, good for T2 nationally behind Washington State’s Anthony Gordon.

Passing efficiency? Burrow is 2nd (225.6) and Tua is 3rd (225.3).

Yards per attempt? Burrow is 2nd (12.26) and Tua is 3rd (11.61).

Shoot, Nick, this Burrow kid is even a smidge better in the first half of games — completing 81 percent of passes for 1,061 yards and 12 TDs against 2 interceptions, while Tua completes 75 percent for 954 yards and 11 TDs against 0 INTs.

But those are all numbers, and we know you’re more of a results guy than a measurables guy. So how about this? These 4th quarters are flat boring. You want Bryant-Denny Stadium to be full? Keeping Tagovailoa in there like LSU does with Burrow to try to ring up 70, 80, 90 … heck, 100 points? Those pesky students will definitely stay for some PlayStation numbers.

And it’ll send a message in recruiting, too. Come to Alabama and see if scoreboard around the country have a third digit! What good is building a fully functional Death Star if you don’t let loose the full fury of the lasers at your whim?

Plus, think of the practicality of this … eventually, maybe, Tagovailoa might have to play an entire game against somebody down the road. It happened last year against Clemson to results we don’t exactly remember. But perhaps getting some extra reps now would make Tua an even stronger force should the same situation happen again.

I sincerely hope you’ll consider this request, Nick, on behalf of all those folks becoming bored with 42-3 and 62-10 and 47-23 and 49-7 — when it could easily be 84-3, 124-10, 94-23 and 98-7. You’d be a instant legend, worthy of maybe even a bronze statue or something. And Tagovailoa would undoubtedly deliver so many postseason awards and trophies that no door in the Mal Moore Football Complex will ever be without a doorstop again.

Yours truly,

David