Alabama benched starting quarterback Jalen Hurts after halftime of Monday’s National Championship against Georgia. Coach Nick Saban turned to five-star freshman backup Tua Tagovailoa to start the second half, and Tagovailoa rewarded him quickly.
Alabama scored its first points of the game on Tagovailoa’s second drive, when he threw a 6-yard touchdown to fellow freshman Henry Ruggs III.
That was nice. Much nicer was a 9-yard scramble on a third-and-7 earlier in the drive, where Tagovailoa eluded a horde of Bama rushers, reversed the field, and muscled his way past the line to preserve Bama’s drive.
He threw an interception in the third quarter that he appeared to mean to throw out of bounds, but was hit on the play.
Down 20-13 and faced with a fourth-and-four from Georgia’ seven-yard line, the freshman threw a touchdown pass to tie the game at 20 with less than four minutes to go:
And then in the overtime period,
Tua Tagovailoa became….. a legend.
