Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was carted off in the second quarter of Saturday's game against Mississippi State with a hip injury. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said he didn't know the severity of the injury and Tagovailoa will be taken back to Birmingham for CAT scans and MRIs.

Tagovailoa was injured with three minutes remaining before halftime when he was brought down by two Bulldogs defenders while rolling to his left on a third-down play. He suffered a bloody nose and couldn't put pressure on his right leg when he was helped up by trainers.

Saban said he doesn't think the injury is related to the ankle injury that made Tagovailoa a game-time decision for Saturday's game. "It's kind of a freak thing that you seldom see," Saban said.

"He was good, at least as good as he was a week ago in terms of his ability to move," he added. "I don't think anything he did affected his performance in the first half. So the guy played, and I thought he played really well. And we hate it that he got injured. We hate it for him. We hate it for his family. I hate it when any player on our team gets injured. So Godspeed to him and his entire family and our thoughts and prayers are with them and hope this is not so serious it has any long-term effect on his future as a player."

Saban told ESPN's Molly McGrath that it was going to be Tagovailoa's final drive of the game. Saban said Tagovailoa was still in the game to practice a two-minute drill.

"That was going to be his last series," Saban said. "We were going to do two-minute before the half was over just for practice. First, we've got to block them better so he doesn't get sacked. It's too bad."

McGrath reported that Tagovailoa was undergoing X-rays. McGrath also reported that Tagovailoa was screaming in pain as trainers helped lift him off the cart.

The Tide were leading 35-7 at the time of the injury. Tagovailoa was 14-for-18 for 256 yards with two touchdowns.

Saban said the coaching staff considered putting backup quarterback Mac Jones into the game for Tagovailoa before the final series.

"I don't worry about players getting hurt," Saban said. "You certainly don't want to see anybody get hurt, especially him."

Tagovailoa, a Heisman Trophy contender and potential top-10 pick in next spring's NFL draft, had surgery on his right ankle Oct. 20, a day after he was injured in the Crimson Tide's 35-13 victory over Tennessee.

Surgeons performed a "tightrope" procedure on his right ankle, in which they drilled a hole from his fibula into the tibia and cast three tightropes through the bone and cinched it down to tighten it, according to Dr. Norman Waldrop, who was part of the medical team that performed a tightrope procedure on Tagovailoa's left ankle following the SEC championship game last season.

Tagovailoa missed Alabama's 48-7 win over Arkansas on Oct. 26 but returned to start against LSU last week. His mobility was limited, but he still completed 21 of 40 passes for 418 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in the Crimson Tide's 46-41 loss to the Tigers.

He was a game-time decision to start against Mississippi State on Saturday.