Tagovailoa’s heroics lifted Alabama to national title
His name is Tua Tagovailoa, and until the Alabama offense took the field for the second half of Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game, he was known mostly in his native Hawaii and his adopted Tuscaloosa.
As popular people on campus go, it’s tough to beat the backup quarterback, all pristine potential without the visible warts. Cue the talkradio callers: Imagine what our offense could do if only the coach would put him in the game.
Enter Nick Saban, the coach of Alabama. He has the following recreational interests: winning football games. But this is what Georgia — coached by a Saban disciple, yearning to become what Alabama is — forced Saban to do: Make the most stomachturning, script-flipping move a coach can make, changing quarterbacks midstream.
Saban did it in full stride. He did it to win the second half against Georgia. He did it to win a national championship.
The Crimson Tide captured its fifth national title under Saban in unlikely fashion, beating Georgia 26-23 on Tagovailoa’s masterful missile, a 41-yard strike to receiver DeVonta Smith on the Crimson Tide’s second play of overtime.
Adding to the drama, the glory of Tagovailoa’s third touchdown pass of the game came after an ugly moment in which he took a 16-yard sack.
“Tua probably couldn’t have thrown that pass if I could have gotten ahold of him after the sack,” Saban said afterward. “I couldn’t get out there fast enough.”
Just as well that he didn’t, then, as Tagovailoa shook off the loss to throw a perfect pass down the left sideline to Smith for the biggest touchdown pass in the history of Alabama football.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him taking advantage of the opportunity,” Saban said. “We have total confidence in him. We played him a lot in a lot of games this year, and he did very well.”
True, but Tagovailoa had never appeared in a game that Alabama didn’t lead by at least 10 points. And it’s not like he was called upon to replace an injured player.
Jalen Hurts had started the championship game, just as he had started the Crimson Tide’s previous 27 games, winning 25. And he entered the Georgia game having attempted 248 passes this season with only one interception.
But Hurts was ineffective as Alabama fell behind the Bulldogs 13-0 at halftime, completing 3 of 8 passes for 21 yards.
“We had (it) in our mind that if we were struggling offensively, we would give Tua an opportunity, even in the last game,” Saban said. “No disrespect to Jalen, but … with the absence of a passing game and being able to make explosive plays and being able to convert on third down, I thought Tua would give us a better chance.”
Tagovailoa was brilliant at times, though he had a few freshman moments. He threw an interception when he tried to pass on a running play and all his receivers were blocking.
But he also darted away from pass rushers and made some impeccable throws, showing poise of a veteran. Most important, once Tagovailoa entered, the way the Tide attacked on offense fundamentally changed.
The freshman finished 14 of 24 for 166 yards and three touchdowns, including a 7-yard, fourth-down pass to Calvin Ridley that tied the score at 20 with 3:49 remaining.
In all, Tagovailoa led Alabama to five secondhalf scoring possessions and a sixth that ended with a missed 36-yard field goal on the final play of regulation. None was bigger than the deep pass to Smith one play after a sack.
“After the sack, we just got up and took it to the next play,” Tagovailoa said. “I looked back out, and Smitty was wide open.”