If you weren’t tuned into Monday night’s National Championship game, then let me be the first to tell you you missed a great game. From comebacks & missed field goals to huge plays & new players becoming stars, the game had just about everything a fan could want with it all on the line. In fact, the game even went into overtime and ended in dramatic fashion as Alabama won on a 41-yard bomb touchdown.
However the game was good long before the overtime thriller. At halftime, Alabama was down 13 points to Georgia (13-0), but a switch at QB to true freshman Tua Tagovailoa is what turned things around for the Crimson Tide. Tagovailoa, who came on in relief for a struggling Jalen Hurts, completed 14 of 24 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns in the second half, while running for 27 yards. He out dueled Georgia’s true freshman, Jake Fromm, who passed for 232 yards and had 1 touchdown himself.
Alabama had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but a 36-yard field goal attempt by Andy Pappanastos missed wide left, sending the game to overtime. In Georgia’s first try in overtime, a sack of Jake Fromm led to Rodrigo Blankenship having to attempt a field goal from 51 yards. The kicker for the Bulldogs crushed the kick, putting the Bulldogs temporarily on top 23-20.
But following a crushing sack by Georgia’s Jonathan Ledbetter and Davin Bellamy for a loss of 16 yards on Alabama’s first play in overtime, Tua Tagovailo was able to find freshman WR Devonta Smith sprinting past the Bulldogs’ secondary on the next play and hit him in stride with a perfect pass for the 41-yard touchdown and the victory.
The game, especially in the second half, was a roller coaster of events and one for the ages, but once again Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are champions yet again. This title marks Nick’s 6th title at Alabama.
Check out highlights & tweets from the game (below). Congrats goes out to Roll Tide nation on another National Championship.
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