Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin comment on Dallas Turner's hit on Jayden Daniels

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dallas Turner’s bone-crunching hit on Jayden Daniels is still a hot topic of debate.

During the fourth quarter of Alabama’s 42-28 victory over LSU, Turner knocked Daniels out of the game as the edge rusher followed through on a hit that sent the quarterback into concussion protocol.

Turner was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty for making contact with Daniels’ head on the play. However, the hit was not called or reviewed for targeting, drawing plenty of controversy across the college football landscape.

Monday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban provided his take on the play, stating that while the hit was rightfully called for a penalty, there was no intention from Turner to hit Daniels’ head.

“He hit the guy here (pointing to his chest) and then he sort of hit him on the chin,” Saban said. “So it wasn’t like a direct hit or an intentional hit to the head. It was a really good hit, but unfortunately, his helmet did slide up and hit the guy, so it’s a foul. If you hit the quarterback in the head, it’s going to get called all the time.”

Following the game, LSU head coach Brian Kelly said he was told by officials that the play was being reviewed for targeting. However, no announcement of that was made on the field.

​​"Obviously I don't have the ability to see that,” Kelly said. “Anytime there is contact to the head or neck area you're thinking there must be some form of targeting. They reviewed it, didn't feel there was, so we moved on.”

Saban and Kelly aren’t the only SEC coaches to sound off on the hit. During a Sunday Zoom call with reporters, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffen said he was shocked a targeting call was not called.

"I can say — nothing against those officials — I was blown away that was not targeting," Kiffin said. "I mean, from the second that I saw it. And the hit to the neck and head injury — how that wasn’t and how that wasn’t reviewed."

Kiffen didn’t stop there. He went on to question why officials did not go back and look at the play while Daniels was being tended to on the ground.

"I obviously don’t understand the rules, because that’s not just missing it on the field," Kiffin said. "That’s having plenty of time to look at it and not throwing it. Again, that would go into my — I don’t know if there’s a more important job for the officials than to protect the quarterback, who’s in a very vulnerable position by how he has to throw the ball."

Daniels came back onto the field but then left after a timeout was called by LSU. He did not return to the game. The star quarterback finished the night 15 of 24 for 219 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. He also piled up 163 yards and 11 carries on the ground. Daniels was replaced by Garrett Nussmeier, who finished 5 of 10 for 53 yards.

Had Turner been flagged for targeting, he would have been ejected and forced to sit out the first half of Alabama's game at Kentucky this weekend. As for Saban's advice to the edge rusher moving forward, he said there wasn't much of a technical coaching point he could provide.

"We just want to have him keep his eyes up and see what he hits," Saban said. "Hopefully, target down a little bit so that doesn't happen again."