Go ahead, ask Nick Saban about the daring, altering-the-course-of-history decision to switch quarterbacks midway through last season’s national championship game. I mean, who performs that kind of radical, emergency transplant at such a critical moment of a title game?
The Alabama coach just loves to put his feet up and reminisce and revel in the triumphs of the past.
Not so much. But still, earlier this week came the question about the night he benched the one-time SEC Offensive Player of the Year (Jalen Hurts) at halftime of the biggest game for a freshman who had played only mop-up minutes and taken not a single postseason snap (Tua Tagovailoa). It was a move that changed everything for both Alabama and Georgia, that’s all.
So, with the tone of the weary genius, Saban answered, “I’ve talked about this a thousand times. It was what we felt we needed to do to help our team have a chance to be successful in the game. It’s really as simple as that.
“It worked out, so everybody thinks it was a good decision. If it wouldn’t have worked out, everybody would be talking about what a bad decision it was.”
On that decision turned a championship game. Alabama beat Georgia on Tagovailoa’s third touchdown pass of the night, a 41-yard walk-off connection – on second-and-26 – to DeVonta Smith in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
And on that decision turns the fate of Saturday’s SEC Championship game (4 p.m., CBS; News 95.5 and AM-750 WSB) between the same two teams at the same venue, 11 months later.
As accomplished as Hurts was – and he remains at Alabama today – Tagovailoa adds dazzle to the more elemental physical dominance upon which the Crimson Tide has always depended. It is now the juggernaut with candy sprinkles and a working disco ball on top. That’s because of Tagovailoa, the game-changer rather than the game-manager.
It is not just the Samoan-heritage that makes his name stand out from the other quarterbacks who have contributed to Saban’s collection of five national titles at Alabama. Those names, by the way: Greg McElroy, A.J. McCarron, Jake Coker and half a Hurts.
McCarron was the flintiest of postseason performers and a Heisman Trophy runner-up. No Alabama quarterback has won the Heisman. That history figures to change when Tagovailoa takes the trophy and assumes the pose this season.
Coming off a six-touchdown performance against Auburn (five passing, one rushing, a school-record total), Tagovailoa brings to this SEC Championship game all the statistical requirements of a singular performer. Despite only sporadic appearances in the fourth quarter because of the huge leads Bama routinely ran up this year, he set school single-season records for touchdown passes (36) and 300-yard-plus passing games (five). He is the nation’s top-rated quarterback, throwing just two interceptions thus far.
Not the runner that Hurts is, Tagovailoa still can do sporadic damage with his mobility (211 net yards rushing). And the Bulldogs are catching him at a time when a troublesome knee is feeling pretty good. He ditched the knee brace last week.
Tagovailoa has matched the physical gifts with an intellectual knack for picking apart defenses while keeping the myriad play-makers around him fat and happy. “A lot of the things that I think I’ve been doing well, first off, is taking what the defense gives us now,” he said. “And it’s also distributing the ball to just more than one person.” Alabama has seven players with double-digit receptions this season.
More than the numbers, there’s the aesthetics Tagovailoa brings to the Alabama offense. Speaking to ESPN, former Alabama offensive coordinator and current Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin described a “magical aura and accuracy” to Tagovailoa’s passes.
And, if you believe a person can be judged by the company he keeps, then Bulldogs fans should find him difficult to dislike. He counts his Georgia counterpart Jake Fromm, an acquaintance from the all star and recruiting trail, a good friend. For reasons that should meet everyone’s approval.
“(Fromm) comes from a really good family. His mom and dad are really nice. Both awesome people,” Tagovailoa said earlier this week. “It’s his foundation. He has a really strong faith background. I do, too. That’s where we kind of click.”
He had to possess a certain strength of personality to win over the huddle as quickly as he did during the spring and summer, when the starting job was still being cast as a competition between himself and Hurts. “Quarterback controversy” is not a phrase that plays well with any team. Readily making allies and proving yourself just another oar on the boat is a certain way to cool the debate internally.
“Tua’s obviously a likable guy,” Alabama offensive tackle Jonah Williams said. “It’s exciting to see the guy who is kind of at the lead of it working as hard as everyone else.”
He’s the type to raise everyone’s level of play. Just ask Alabama nose guard Quinnen Williams. “He’s the best in the country. So he challenges (the Tide defense) to get out there and discourage them.”
Tagovailoa’s excitement about returning to the scene of his collegiate coming-out is measured to the point of being negligible. That would be another personality trait Saban, for one, would find particularly endearing.
“With all of our guys it’s a mindset of: It happens and you move on,” he said. “It’s good that it happened. We got to enjoy it for quite some time now. It’s a new season, so everything that happened last year happened last year. We understand that. It’s a new team. They have a new team. It’s a different ballgame this time.”
Only this time, the Bulldogs are faced with twice the Tagovailoa – four quarters worth of him, rather than two and a little bit extra (unless Saban makes another inspired switch).
And this time, he is the known, which in some cases is a lot scarier than the unknown.
