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Tua Tagovailoa’s first touchdown pass of this season wasn’t as memorable as his final one of last season, but it still was signficant.
After months of anticipation, the talented sophomore quarterback earned his first career start at Alabama when he took the field against Louisville during the Camping World Kickoff Saturday at Camping World Stadium.
Tagovailoa drove the Crimson Tide 65 yards on seven plays, capping the drive with an 11-yard pass the lefty lofted to Jerry Jeudy in the end zone.
It was the Tide’s first touchdown of the season and the first since Tagovailoa connected with DeVonta Smith for the game-winning 41-yard touchdown in overtime as Alabama defeated Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in January.
Tagovailoa accounted for three total touchdowns as No. 1 Alabama (1-0) defeated Louisville 51-14 in front of an announced crowd of 57,280.
“Tua played well and made some really good throws — I mean, really good throws, very accurate throws, put the ball right on guys,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said of his new starting quarterback. “When they had halfway decent coverage, he made good decisions for the most part.
“I think there’s a lot of good things that we did. But I also think that there’s a lot of things that we need to fix.”
Speculation surrounding the identity of Alabama’s starting quarterback swirled for months, with most believing Tagovailoa would unseat incumbent Jalen Hurts for the job.
Saban said he let both quarterbacks know of his decision before practice on Thursday.
“They both knew what the situation would be in the game,” Saban explained.
He went on to say the plan was to have Tagovailoa play in the neighborhood of 20 plays and no matter the situation, he would then insert Hurts.
While Saban wouldn’t discuss a favorite, Tagovailoa shined brighter Saturday.
On the third possession of the game, Alabama drove from its own 45-yard line deep into Louisville territory before Tagovailoa scrambled to his left while avoiding defenders before reaching the end zone and extending the lead to 14-0 with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter.
Louisville (0-1), meanwhile, struggled to get anything going offensively.
Jawon Pass, who took over the starting quarterback duties after the departure of Lamar Jackson, put together and uneven performance early on.
“We got beat by a better football team,” Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. “There’s no question about that. They’re very good. They did a great job. Their offense, their defense. They beat us in special teams. They outcoached us. So basically we got beat in all phases of the game.”
Hurts took over the game midway through the second quarter with Alabama leading 21-0, but the offense struggled to get anything going and the Tide was forced to punt on back-to-back drives.
Tagovailoa returned to the lineup after a 31-yard punt return by Jaylen Waddle gave Alabama the football at the Louisville 25-yard line with just 27 seconds left in the first half.
He quickly found the end zone again, this time connecting with Jeudy for a 25-yard touchdown strike on the left side to push the lead to 28-0 at the half.
The two touchdown passes equaled the most for an opening-day starting quarterback during the Saban era at Alabama. AJ McCarron (2012) and John Parker Wilson (2008) both previously accomplished the feat.
Alabama picked up right where it left off in the first half, taking its first possession in the third quarter and driving the ball downfield 49 yards before Josh Jacobs rounded the corner on the right side and raced 18 yards for a score. It was his sixth career rushing touchdown.
Tagovailoa finished the night 12-of-16 passing for 227 yards and two touchdowns. He added another 26 yards rushing that included a 9-yard touchdown run.
Hurts was 5-of-9 passing for 70 yards.
“He did some good things and some things, you know, we need to do better,” Saban said when asked about Hurts.