Bama Backup Tua Tagovailoa Leads Tide to 5th National Title in Nine Years

Apparenlty stopping Tua Tagovailoa is harder than pronouncing his name.
The Tide freshman quarterback entered college football lore last night by coming off the bench to rally Bama over Georgia for the national title.
Tagovailoa hit Devonta Smith on a 41 yard touchdown pass in overtime to secure a 26-23 victory.
When Georgia scored to make it 13-0 just seconds before halftime, it appeared the Dawgs were in control. They held Bama to under 100 yards of offense in the first half.
Then the Tide turned when Nick Saban inserted true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa from Hawaii.
Said Tagovailoa: “I don’t know how coach Saban found me all the way in Hawaii from Alabama. I just want to thank God he found me, and we’re here right now.”
Tagovailoa helped the Tide find their offense.
He threw for 166-yards and three touchdowns in the second half to earn game MVP honors.
Said Tagoviloa: “I still can’t believe that this is what happened. It feels like another game.”
Tagovailoa got Bama in position for a game winning field goal, only to see Andy Pappanastos miss to send the game into overtime.
That only set the stage for a dramatic finish for the Tide and Tagovailoa, as he hit Smith for the winning touchdown in overtime.
Said Saban: “Kept clawing back in the second half even after we missed the field goal to win it in regulation. Still showed resiliency to overcome hard, and make some great plays.”
Said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart: ” In overtime we didn’t finish when we had to, and Alabama did. Give them credit, but I think that everybody can see that Georgia is going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Said Georgia running back Nick Chubb: “That’s a great defense we just went up against. A lot of respect for them, and what they do. A lot of big bodies up front makes it hard to run, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to us not executing well.”
Said Saban: “Someone tried to give me a game ball. I don’t think you can give anybody a game ball. It has to be a team ball, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
It was Alabama’s fifth national championship in the last nine years.