A Tide title no one saw coming at halftime
ATLANTA — It was halftime Monday night at the College Football Playoff national title game inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium and no one save Alabama coach Nick Saban and at least a few of his players probably believed they were going to crawl out of this 13-0 hole they found themselves in against Southeastern Conference brother Georgia.
But Saban did know he’d never previously lost to a former assistant and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had been a Saban assistant for eight years with the Tide before taking over UGA, his alma mater, at the close of the 2015 season.
He also knew, or at least hoped, that his pure freshman lefty quarterback from Hawaii, some kid named Tua Tagovailoa had the kind of live arm that sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts lacked.
So he gathered his team together and said this: “Tua’s going to start the second half and we’ll see how things go.”
It went great in the beginning.
Tagovailoa hit Henry Ruggs III from six yards out to slice the deficit to 13-7. But then Georgia roared back, leading 20-10 at the close of the third.
So you came to the fourth quarter expecting a classic final 15 minutes, these two proud SEC programs playing for league supremacy almost as much as a national championship. After all, this is the same stadium that hosts the SEC title game. And Bama did make it interesting. They did what championship programs do. They embraced the grind, even if it seemed at times as if at least 75 percent of the 77,430 inside Mercedes-Benz were against them, so much louder did the noise seem each time Georgia did something special rather than those moments Bama beamed bright.
And with under four minutes to play the Tide tied it at 20-all, this pure freshman, lefty quarterback from Hawaii hitting Mr. Ridley from seven yards out on a 4th and
4 to tie things up after Andy Pappanastos’s extra point.
Then the Tide defense stiffened as it rarely had this night, forcing a Georgia punt, which meant the Tide would get it back with a chance to win its second championship in three years.
Bama moved past midfield with 1:45 to go, helped mightily by a 15-yard facemask penalty. This was Georgia’s worst nightmare. After seemingly being in complete control for 59 minutes, the Tide owned the ball in a tie game and a first down at the Georgia 20.
Hold onto the ball and it would, at the very least, come down to the sometimes shaky toe of Pappanastos, the young man who’d missed that 40-yarder in the game’s first five minutes. It would also come down to a Georgia defense that had blocked an Oklahoma field goal in overtime in last week’s semifinal to all but guarantee a Bulldog victory.
You briefly wondered if President Trump was still around to watch this potentially epic ending, a result certain to break the majority of one red state’s heart, but which one?
With six seconds to go, Bama starting quarterback Jalen Hurts came in to run one play to center the ball for Pappanastos. Georgia couldn’t call timeout. It could only watch.
From 36 yards, Pappanastos missed.
Up on the giant video screen, a Georgia coed cried happy tears.
Down on the sideline, Saban lowered his head in disgust. Overtime.
New life for Georgia. A bitter reality for Alabama.
The bad vibes started early for Bama, beginning with a 40-yard missed field goal after a 35-yarder one snap earlier was wiped out by a 5-yard illegal procedure penalty.
Instead of taking a quick 3-0 lead five minutes into the game, the Tide had squandered a scoring opportunity. Worse than that, Hurts had overthrown a wideopen Calvin Ridley in the end zone a couple of snaps earlier.
Somehow, despite a 13-0 Georgia halftime lead and 20-7 second-half deficit against the Dawgs, they had rallied to tie it. But overtime couldn’t possibly be good thing for Bama, could it?
Wasn’t this where the Bulldogs had shined a week ago in the Rose Bowl? Wouldn’t that come back to prove the difference again, its confidence surely boosted by that missed field goal?
As national championship games go, this one wasn’t consistently excellent, as had been the last two years between Alabama and Clemson. But on fourth and forever in the opening OT, Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship had nailed a 51-yard field goal to hand the Dawgs a 23-20 lead.
Then Tagovailoa was sacked on the Georgia 41 on Bama’s first snap of the extra period. Pappanastos might be front and center again in a most unwelcome spot.
But on second down, the freshman QB found freshman DeVonta Smith down the left sideline. Touchdown. National championship by a 26-23 final score.
Heartbreak for Georgia.
Another perfect night for Southeastern Conference football.
“A great win for our players and I’ve never been happier in my life,” said Saban.
On the other side, the fans of Georgia may have never been less happy.