Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has lit the college football world on fire, but the LSU Tigers offer the sophomore his first true test.
Entering the 10th week of the 2018 college football season, Alabama Crimson Tide sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in position to run away with the Heisman Trophy race. Put simply, the first-year starter for Nick Saban’s team has been about as close to perfect as you could imagine from a young player.
Through the first eight games of the season, Tagovailoa has completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,066 yards, 25 touchdowns and has still yet to throw an interception. For good measure, Tua has also crossed the goal line twice with his legs this season for 27 total scores on the year. And he’s done all of this while having yet to take a snap in the fourth quarter.
Tagovailoa hasn’t seen the final 15 minutes of a game this season because he and the Crimson Tide as a whole have been so dominant. On their way to 8-0 to start the year, the smallest margin of victory that they’ve had to this point was 22 points, one of only two games that Alabama hasn’t won by 30 or more points this season (Missouri being the other).
In Week 10, however, the Tide will be going on the road to face the LSU Tigers, who enter the matchup as the third-ranked team in the country. Ed Orgeron’s group is far and away the best overall team that Alabama has played this season — and perhaps that they will play in the regular season.
Narrowing the lens on Tua, however, this LSU game presents an interesting proposition for the star quarterback. Because not only will he be leading his team into their toughest battle of the season — on the road, no less — come Saturday night, but this will also be the first truly viable defense that Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide have faced this season.
To be clear, putting up the numbers that the sophomore quarterback has to this point is incredible no matter the level of opponent or defenses that he’s been up against. To have 27 total touchdowns and no interceptions through eight games is something that you only see in video games (you know, if fans weren’t being robbed of hours of enjoyment by the NCAA Football game franchise being defunct).
Having said that, the level of defense that Tagovailoa has faced this season quietly hasn’t been anything close to special.
Over Bama’s first eight games, the best defense that they’ve faced was Texas A&M, as the Aggies rank 29th in the country in scoring defense, allowing 21.5 points per game. After that, however, the next best defense that they’ve faced is that of Missouri, who are tied for just the 81st best scoring defense in college football, allowing 28.9 points per game. Not coincidentally, those have been the two closest games Alabama has been involved in this season.
On the contrary, LSU welcomes the Crimson Tide to Death Valley with one of the best defenses in the contrary. Not only do they have the star power with guys like Andraez “Greedy” Williams, Grant Delpit and Devin White (though the latter will be suspended for the first half against Alabama), but they have the statistics to back it up, allowing just 15.1 points per game this season, the seventh best opposing scoring average in the nation.
The biggest thing of note in regards to the LSU defense as it pertains to Tua Tagovailoa is the playmakers that they have in the secondary. Williams and Delpit are first-round caliber NFL talents that can legitimately shutdown passing attacks. Alabama and their star quarterback have not faced an opponent that boasts the overall defense or the playmakers that the Tigers will put before them on Saturday night.
Subsequently, this game stands as a massive proving ground for Tua. As mentioned previously, he’s the frontrunner to win the 2018 Heisman Trophy with what he’s been doing through eight games. What’s more, there is already talk of NFL teams posturing for the 2020 NFL Draft to have a chance to select the Alabama quarterback should he declare then.
While that’s all true and warranted to this point, we’ve yet to see him be tested outside of shocking the Georgia Bulldogs in the second half of last year’s National Championship Game. On Saturday night, that changes. LSU will put Tua Tagovailoa through the ringer and make him prove that he’s every bit as good as he’s been built up to be leading up to this game.