No. 1 Alabama’s sixth-straight win to start the 2012 season was and will continue to be, at least for the short-term, tinged with uncertainty as it pertains to a key piece of the Tide’s offensive puzzle.
In the third quarter of the 42-10 romp over Missouri, starting quarterback AJ McCarron went down with a knee injury. After being tended to on the field by UA medical personnel for several minutes, he walked off the field under his own power. He briefly returned to the game with a hefty brace before head coach Nick Saban emptied his roster in the fourth quarter.
Following the game, Saban said the program is “hopeful that he won’t have issues and he’ll be able to play in the future.” He added that the team physician Dr. Lyle Cain “wants to take a look at it in 24 hours and see where we’re at” as to the actual severity of the injury.
While they may certainly give some pause as to the actual extent of the injury, the fact that the doctor allowed McCarron back into what was at the time a 28-10 game bodes well for the extended prognosis.
“He said he could play, he was able to go back in the game and AJ wanted to go back in the game,” Saban said. “As long as the doctor said it was OK for him to go back in the game, I was OK with him going back in the game.
“(We were) certainly not to where you get concerned about ‘is this game over?’ because they’re one score away from getting back in the game.”