Tagovailoa ends Bama QB debate
ORLANDO — Alabama doesn’t rebuild. The Crimson Tide simply reload.
College Football Playoff hero Tua Tagovailoa threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in his first college start, helping top-ranked and defending national champion Alabama open the season with a 51-14 rout of Louisville on Saturday night.
Essentially ending the debate — at least for now — about whether he or Jalen Hurts should be the No. 1 quarterback, Tagovailoa scored on a 9-yard run while also completing 12 of 16 passes for 227 yards without an interception.
”I thought there were a lot of things we did well and I also think there are a lot of things we need to fix,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “The effort of our players ... they executed very well on a lot of plays.”
Although Tagovailoa came off the bench to lead Alabama to an overtime victory over Georgia in the national title game in January, Saban gave no indication of his choice to start against Louisville until Tagovailoa trotted onto the field following the opening kickoff.
Saban said the decision to start the sophomore from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, was made earlier in the week, but the plan was to play Hurts, too. Saban said that’s also his intention moving forward.
”I talked to the quarterbacks before practice on Thursday and they both knew exactly what the situation was going to be in the game,” he said. “I wanted Tua to play somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 plays and then we’re going to put Jalen in the game. It didn’t matter when it was or what the score was.
”We’re going to continue to have both these guys be weapons for us on offense because I think they can.”
Last season, Hurts passed for 2,081 yards and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 855 yards and eight TDs. He is 26-2 as a starter.
Saban maintained throughout preseason camp that Alabama was fortunate to have two quality quarterbacks. He tried to deflect attention from the QB debate by talking about the challenge in revamping a defense that lost eight starters.
Tagovailoa was sacked on the game’s second play, but pretty much had his way from there. Jerry Jeudy had TD receptions of 11 and 25 yards, and Josh Jacobs scored on an 18-yard run and a 77-yard kickoff return for the Crimson Tide.
Hurts played two series in the first half and re-entered the game in the third quarter with Alabama leading 41-7. He completed 5 of 9 passes for 70 yards without an interception.
Louisville quarterback Jawon Pass, who is replacing 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, completed 20 of 39 passes for 252 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The second interception was returned for a TD.
In other late games Saturday:
No. 12 Notre Dame 24, No. 14 Michigan 17: Brandon Wimbush connected on a long touchdown pass to help Notre Dame build a 21-3 lead. Notre Dame linebacker Te’Von Coney (Palm Beach Gardens) preserved the win with a fumble recovery in the final minute.
No. 18 Mississippi State 63, Stephen F. Austin 6: Keytaon Thompson, pressed into action when Nick Fitzgerald was suspended for the season opener for violating team policy, passed for 364 yards and five touchdowns to lead the host Bulldogs.
No. 24 Oregon 58, Bowling Green 24: Justin Herbert passed for five touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Ducks, who won their home opener for the 14th consecutive year.