Tagovailoa leads Tide in blowout
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Tua Tagovailoa threw five touchdown passes and ran for a score to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 52-21 victory over rival Auburn on Saturday.
Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide (12-0, 8-0 SEC) took over with an explosive third quarter, when the Heisman Trophy contender threw three long touchdown passes. He’s the first Alabama player to have a hand in six TDs in a game and matched the school record with the five scoring passes.
“We executed on all cylinders on offense coming into that opening drive in the second half, so it's really good,” he said.
Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide (12-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference, No. 1 CFP) took over with an explosive third quarter, when the Heisman Trophy contender threw three long touchdown passes. He's the first Alabama player to have a hand in six TDs in a game and matched the school record with the five scoring passes.
NowB, `ama heads to the SEC championship game against No. 5 Georgia with a guaranteed playoff spot on the line.
With Alabama leading Auburn (7-5, 3-5) just 17-14 at halftime, Tagovailoa launched the Tide into another SEC blowout. He was 11-of-12 passing for 208 yards and four touchdowns in the second half, despite only finishing off one series in the fourth quarter.
Tagovailoa finished 25 of 32 for 324 yards and ran for 26 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown and a 21-yard thirddown conversion on runs.
“I thought Tua was into it,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “His leadership was really important for our offense. Don't ask me why but it doesn't seem like we had the right kind of energy in the first half.”
The second-half numbers included touchdowns of 46 yards to Jerry Jeudy, 33 to Josh Jacobs, 40 to DeVonta Smith and 22 to Henry Ruggs III on an acrobatic, leaping grab.
The game was close until Tagovailoa threw a pair of long TD passes in a three-minute span of the third quarter. The first hit Jeudy down the left sideline and the second went to Jacobs, who shook off a few defenders on his way to the end zone. Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa matched a school record with five touchdown passes Saturday against Auburn.
LOS ANGELES — Ian Book passed for 352 yards, Dexter Williams went 52 yards on a go-ahead touchdown run and No. 3 Notre Dame completed an unbeaten regular season — and likely secured a spot in the College Football Playoff — with a 24-17 over rival USC on Saturday night.
Chris Finke caught an early touchdown pass for the Irish (12-0), who showed playoff-level tenacity in rallying from an early 10-point deficit, their largest of the season. Tony Jones Jr. then took a short pass 51 yards for a touchdown with 3:09 to play to finish off Notre Dame’s 10th perfect regular season since 1945, the first since 2012.
Notre Dame is all but certain to be chosen for the four-team playoff, and this win could keep the Irish away from powerhouse Alabama in the semifinals. The semifinals will be played Dec. 29 in the Orange and Cotton bowls, and the national championship game is Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Williams rushed for 97 yards as the Irish overcame a slow start in the 90th edition of this famed intersectional rivalry. Notre Dame didn’t score until Finke’s touchdown catch shortly before halftime, but the Irish ran off 24 consecutive points and shut out USC in the second half until Tyler Vaughns’ touchdown catch with 48 seconds to play.
JT Daniels passed for 349 yards for the Trojans (5-7), who will stay home for the bowl season after their first losing season since 2000. Vaughns caught 12 passes for 120 yards in what might have been the final game for coach Clay Helton, who is under pressure after the Trojans lost five of their final six games in a collapse.
After USC won eight straight over Notre Dame in the 2000s, the Irish have claimed the Jeweled Shillelagh in six of the last nine meetings. Notre Dame is the first road team to win in the series since 2012, when the Irish also completed an unbeaten regular season with a victory at the Coliseum.
Only four USC teams have finished with losing records since 1961, but this group gave a tough game to the Irish, who faced their first double-digit deficit of the year when USC went up 10-0 in the second quarter. The Trojans’ 289 yards in the first half were 64 more than the Irish had allowed before halftime all season.