Tua Tagovailoa masterfully looked off the safety, who was responsible for the deep half of the field in Cover 2, and hit DeVonta Smith in stride for a 41-yard touchdown.
That play by Alabama’s true freshman quarterback ended Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game to seal a 26-23 overtime win over Georgia. It also set up a multitude of storylines that will dominate the college football offseason.
First off, let’s begin with the obvious — the Crimson Tide have a new starting quarterback. Trailing 13-0 at half, ‘Bama head coach Nick Saban knew the Crimson Tide would have to throw the ball more effectively in the second half to come back, so he turned to Tagovailoa in place of Jalen Hurts.
While Hurts had guided Alabama to a 25-2 record the last two seasons as its starting quarterback, he has always been more of a game manager who relied on his legs to come up with big plays in crunch time. Tagovailoa, on the other hand, was widely regarded as the top dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 recruiting cycle with Elite 11 pioneer Trent Dilfer calling him the most advanced high school quarterback he has ever seen.
Monday night served as the changing of the guard in the Crimson Tide’s quarterback room, so what is going to happen with Hurts now? While he isn’t the passer Tagovaiola is, Hurts is still a dynamic talent who deserves a chance to start somewhere.
The past decade has seen highly regarded quarterbacks changing teams frequently, and Hurts may look to transfer now that his job was stolen on the biggest stage. There are plenty of big time programs who would love to have him, so the offseason may become a free-for-all for his services, even though he would have to sit out a year due to transfer rules.
Similarly, Georgia finds itself in the same predicament. True freshman Jake Fromm went into the season as the backup behind sophomore Jacob Eason, who had a great freshman season in his own regard in 2016. But Fromm, who replaced the injured Eason in the first game of the season, went on to win 13 games, an SEC title and guided the Bulldogs to a 54-48 double-overtime Rose Bowl victory and had them on the brink of a National Championship.
Eason is already rumored to be on the way out with Washington believed to be the favorite, but who knows what other teams could pop up and try to steal away the talented signal caller.
There are two other major storylines to follow: Saban’s legacy and the rise of Georgia.
Saban was already regarded as one of the best coaches in college football history. But after his fifth title in nine years at ‘Bama and sixth overall, could he now be considered the greatest ever and replace ‘Bama legend Bear Bryant? Expect the talking heads to debate this hot topic all offseason with no end in sight. In my opinion, what Saban has done in the modern era has been Belichickian and puts him at the top of the all-time list.
Finally, Georgia has made its presence felt throughout the college football landscape. Former Saban assistant Kirby Smart has turned the Bulldogs into a legitimate annual contender in just two short seasons at the helm. While the Bulldogs will lose some top notch talent to the NFL Draft — namely Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Roquan Smith — Fromm will be around for two more years and Georgia has plenty of blue chip talent waiting in the wings. As much as it pains me as a Tennessee fan to admit, the Bulldogs aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
While I personally was hoping the championship would somehow end in a tie — I know it wasn’t possible but a guy can dream — there is no denying it was a game for the ages, but it also set up a compelling offseason that I am excited to see play out.
Joshua Campbell is the sports editor at The Columbian-Progress. He can be reached at (601) 736-2611 or by email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com
