Tagovailoa has hand in five TDs to lead Alabama
Alabama tight end Hale Hentges eludes diving Texas A&M defensive back Leon O’Neal Jr. on the way to one of his two touchdown receptions in the first half. No. 1 Alabama 45, No. 22 Texas A&M 23 just kept grinding away, that eventually we’d be able to pull away.”
OK, it was more of a 27-minute dogfight, but that’s more than other Tide opponents have mustered.
Tagovailoa passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score for the Tide in its first test against a ranked team. Kellen Mond and the Aggies (2-2, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) couldn’t put up nearly the fight they had in a 28-26 loss to No. 3 Clemson.
Tagovailoa completed 22 of 30 passes before leaving after Henry Ruggs III took a shuttle pass 57 yards for a score late in the third. He hit tight end Hale Hentges for two more scores. Hentges had only one catch in the first three games and said he hadn’t had a two-TD game since his high school finale.
“I never dreamed of getting two,” he said. “I always thought about just getting one.”
Harris didn’t get many touches but had a 35-yard run and a 52-yard catch.
“We were fortunate that we made a lot of big plays on offense,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We really threw the ball effectively and scored a lot of points, but we really didn’t control the game. We didn’t control the line of scrimmage. We struggled to run the ball offensively with consistency.”
Mond completed 16 of 33 passes for 196 yards with a touchdown but was intercepted twice, including on his first throw.
He collected 98 yards rushing despite getting sacked seven times.
The SEC’s top rusher, Trayveon Williams of the Aggies, found little room to run. He gained 31 yards on eight carries.
Texas A&M seemed poised for a while to give the Tide its first test of the season. But Tagovailoa & Co. scored 10 points in the final 1:09 before halftime for a 31-13 lead.
Tagovailoa set up a touchdown with a 52-yard pass down the right sideline to Harris. Then freshman cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr. intercepted Mond’s deep pass and the Tide drove for a field goal.
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was impressed with Tagovailoa and his supporting cast.
“He’s good. I mean he’s good,” Fisher said. “He’s got good people around him. I mean he’s got really good people around him, and we tried to pressure him and he scrambled and they’ve got a good scheme, and they did a good job. He was very effective at what he did, and we’ve got to play better.”