Crimson Tide Win Thriller

It's becoming a modern day dynasty. For the twenty first time in the history of the school and the fifth time in the last nine years, the Crimson Tide of Alabama have won the National Championship in College Football. This is the first title since 2015 for Alabama, a quick drought that most teams would kill to have. It took a little more time then Alabama wanted, and they needed a little bit of luck on their side, but they eventually got the job done and walked away with a championship.

True freshman Tua Tagovailoa came up huge when it was needed the most, hitting freshman wide receiver DeVonta Smith with a 41-yard touchdown pass to give Alabama the 26-23 overtime win. And Tagovailoa wasn't even the starter in the game, Jalen Hurts got the start for Alabama. Tagovailoa got mostly mop up duty this year, but when he was needed most, he came up big in the biggest moment. Hurts got off to a rough start, going only 3 of 8 for 21 yards and was pulled by the time the 3rd quarter got underway. Georgia's defense had done a fantastic job dominating Alabama over the first half, leading to a 13-0 lead for the Bulldogs by the time we went into the break.

Then Tagovailoa came into the game and had himself a pretty good day, going 14 of 24 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and a pick. Sure there were times he made freshman mistakes. Case in point, the interception he threw was on a run play when most of his receivers were set in making their blocks. At other times, he showed the poise of a guy whose been playing the position at a high level for a long time. Case in point, he was able to dart away from pass rushers and made some impeccable throws. Tagovailoa made his second biggest play of the game facing fourth-and-goal from the 7, with Alabama down seven. He rolled to his left and zipped a pass through traffic that hit Calvin Ridley in the numbers for the tying score with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter.

All of this, though, looked like it would have not have even happened at one point. Once Georgia took the 20-7 lead after Georgia's own freshman quarterback, Jake Fromm, hit Mecole Hardman for an 80-yard touchdown pass. Once Georgia took that lead, I think most of the feeling was that Georgia might actually end a national title drought that dates back to 1980. And lets not take anything away from what Jake Fromm did, he finished the day going 16 of 32 for 232 yards, that one touchdown and he was picked off twice. For most of this game, Fromm looked like he was going to be the one freshman to lead his team to the title. Georgia was in control of the game. But then Alabama started to chip away at the Georgia lead.

The Crimson Tide fought all the way back to tie the game, with the comeback being capped off by the Ridley touchdown with 3:49 left. Bama had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but kicker Andy Pappanastos missed a 36-yard field goal in the final seconds to force overtime. Georgia took the lead in the extra session, thanks to a 51-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship. Bama got the ball back and the rest is history. This game actually marked the 2nd straight week that Georgia had to go to extra time, beating Oklahoma in double overtime last week just to be able to get here. They had to play extra time again this week, but their run of luck just ran out against the Crimson Tide. Georgia had the better day on the ground, but at the end of the end of the day, it was the scoreboard that mattered.

Congratulations to Alabama on winning the 2018 National Championship!