ATLANTA — To add another championship to a college football dynasty, Alabama called on its quarterback of the future, and Tua Tagovailoa proved his time is now.
The freshman quarterback came off the bench to spark a comeback and threw a 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith on second and 26 to give No. 4 Alabama a 26-23 overtime victory against No. 3 Georgia on Monday night for the College Football Playoff national championship.
Tagovailoa entered the game at halftime, replacing a struggling Jalen Hurts, and threw three touchdown passes to give the Crimson Tide its fifth national championship since 2009 under Coach Nick Saban.
“He just stepped in and did his thing,” Hurts said. “He’s built for stuff like this. I’m so happy for him.”
For the third consecutive season, Alabama played in a classic CFP final. The Tide split two with Clemson, losing last season on a touchdown with a second left.
What was Saban thinking as the winning pass soared?
“I could not believe it,” he said. “There’s lots of highs and lows. Last year we lost on the last play of the game, and this year we won on the last play of the game”
After Alabama kicker Andy Pappanastos missed a 36-yard field goal that would have won it for the Tide (13-1) in the final seconds of regulation, Georgia (13-2) took the lead with a 51-yard field goal from Rodrigo Blankenship in overtime.
Tagovailoa took a sack on Alabama’s first play of overtime, losing 16 yards. On the next play he found Smith, another freshman, and hit him in stride for the national championship.
This game will be remembered for Saban’s decision to change quarterbacks trailing 13-0.
“I just thought we had to throw the ball, and I felt he could do it better, and he did,” Saban said. “He did a good job, made some plays in the passing game.”
Saban now has six major poll national championships, including one at LSU, matching the record set by the man who led Alabama’s last dynasty, coach Paul Bear Bryant.
The all-SEC matchup was all Georgia in the first half before Saban pulled Hurts and went with the five-star recruit from Hawaii with his team down 13-0. Hurts was just 3-of-8 passing for 21 yards in the first half while running for 47 yards.
On his second possession, Tagovailoa led Alabama on a seven-play, 56-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III to make it 13-7.
Georgia went up 20-7 when freshman quarterback Jake Fromm threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with 6:52 left in the third quarter.
Alabama chipped away with a couple of field goals, the last one making it 20-13 with 9:24 remaining.
Tagovailoa threw a 7-yard touchdown to Calvin Ridley on fourth and 4 with 3:49 left to tie the game at 20-20.
After stopping Georgia on three downs, Alabama drove into the red zone in the final minute and Saban started playing for a field goal. With the ball centered in the middle of the field, Pappanastos lined up for a kick to win the national championship. The snap and hold looked fine, but the kicked missed badly to the left.
Fortunately for Alabama, Tagovailoa — who was 14 of 24 for 166 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception — didn’t miss in overtime.
Sports on 01/09/2018