Hurts so good: QB returns, leads Tide to dramatic win

Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning touchdown on a 15-yard run with 1:04 to go. No. 1 Alabama 35, No. 4 Georgia 28

ATLANTA — Jalen Hurts spent most of this season watching from the sideline, cheering on the player who took his job and hoping for one more chance to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide.

He didn't pout. He didn't gripe. He didn't transfer.

On Saturday, Hurts got the call. Boy, did he respond.

Hurts threw for one touchdown and ran for another with just over a minute to go, rallying No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 victory over No. 4 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game. It was a stunning twist on the scenario that played out less than 11 months earlier on the very same field.

"I've probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen," Tide coach Nick Saban said.

In last season's national title game at MercedesBenz Stadium, between these same two teams, Tua Tagovailoa replaced an ineffective Hurts at the start of the second half with Alabama trailing Georgia 13-0. Tagovailoa threw three touchdown passes, including a 41-yarder in overtime, to give Alabama a stunning 26-23 victory.

Tagovailoa won the starting job heading into this season and performed brilliantly before Saturday, throwing 36 touchdown passes with only two interceptions.

The SEC title game took a different path. Georgia put a beating on Tagovailoa, who was picked off twice, spent lots of time in the medical tent and was largely ineffective as the Bulldogs twice built two-touchdown leads.

Finally, with just over 11 minutes remaining, Tagovailoa went down for good after one of his own linemen stepped on his right foot as he attempted to throw.

Enter Hurts, who posted a 26-2 record as the starter before Tagovailoa claimed the job.

He guided the Crimson Tide (13-0) to a game-tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, capping a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed more than 7 minutes.

After Georgia (11-2) was stuffed on a fake punt near midfield, Hurts took matters into his own hands for the winning score. Spotting an opening up the middle, he took off on a 15-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining.

"It's unprecedented to have a guy that won as many games as he won … start as a freshman, only lose a couple of games the whole time that he was the starter, and then all of a sudden he's not the quarterback," Saban said. "How do you manage that? How do you handle that? You've got to have a tremendous amount of class and character to put team first, knowing your situation is not what it used to be."

Hurts completed 7 of 9 passes for 82 yards, to go along with five carries for 28 yards in less than a quarter of action.

"It kind of feels like I'm breaking my silence," Hurts said.

The Crimson Tide is headed back to the College Football Playoff, looking for its second straight national title and the sixth of the last decade under Saban. Alabama is expected to play in the Cotton Bowl semifinal as the No. 1 seed.

Georgia can make a case for a playoff spot, too, but its second loss means the Bulldogs likely will have to settle for a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Big 12 champion Oklahoma (12-1) avenged its only loss by beating Texas, and No. 6 Ohio State (12-1) won the Big Ten championship over Northwestern.

It was another galling loss for Saban's former assistant, Kirby Smart. He quickly built Georgia into a national powerhouse, but he keeps coming up short against his ex-boss.

For the second time in less than a year, the Bulldogs squandered a double-digit lead to the Crimson Tide and the fake punt attempt — a muddled apparent pass attempt that ended up as a run up the middle that was stuffed — will go down as one of Smart's worst blunders.

"Look, I wasn't coming here to play to tie," Smart said.