Jalen Hurts came off the bench for an injured Tua Tagovailoa to lead Alabama to a comeback win in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
Hollywood couldn’t write a better script.
Jalen Hurts came off the bench to engineer 21 unanswered points to lead Alabama to a thrilling victory over Georgia to win the SEC. Last year, it was Tagovailoa coming in for Hurts, but the script was flipped this year, and the result was the same. Alabama won a championship.
Hurts could have transferred to a school of his choosing this offseason but he stuck with Alabama despite knowing he’d be the backup quarterback. That faith in the program that his opportunity would come happened on the biggest stage in what was the best game of the year, so far as Alabama improved to 13-0 and punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Hurts said to CBS’ Jamie Erdahl after the game when his time came. “All year, I waited on my opportunity. We found a way to get it done today. “I know at Alabama there’s always an opportunity to win. We work so hard in the offseason together. Today, we found a way to get it done. I’m so happy. Happy for everybody.”
“I’m so proud of this guy for what he’s done this year, I can’t even tell you.”
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 2, 2018
Nick Saban got emotional when speaking about the heroics of Jalen Hurts. pic.twitter.com/mmY4HfoFqD
Hurts is a hero for Alabama fans and erased a 28-21 fourth-quarter deficit with a 10-yard touchdown to Jerry Jeudy on his first drive after replacing Tagovailoa. He gave Alabama their first lead of the game with a 15-yard touchdown run up the middle with 1:04 remaining.
“We always had a lot of faith in Jalen,” Nick Saban told CBS after the game. “I told him when we put him in when Tua got hurt, it’s your time and he certainly took advantage of it and did a good job. I’m so proud of this guy and what he did this year, I can’t even tell ya. Great comeback for our team showed a tremendous amount of resiliency. We didn’t play great but we won the SEC today and we’re so happy about that.”
Jalen Hurts scores a go-ahead touchdown with Tua Tagovailoa cheering him on.
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 2, 2018
You simply cannot make this up. pic.twitter.com/ngRf95vtL8
The radio call from Eli Gold was, well, gold, for Alabama fans.
Hurts only had 58 attempts this year and didn’t even play in the wins vs. LSU and Mississippi State. It’s crazy to think what would have happened if Hurts transferred like so many believed he would. There’s no chance Alabama wins the SEC Championship Game if he does.
Only Alabama could have the luxury of having their backup quarterback being a player who led his team to a national title in his first two seasons, winning one of them.
Now the attention will turn to the health of Tagovailoa and his status for the College Football Playoff. Provided he is healthy, he will remain the starter, but after what Hurts did today, it’s hard not to think he’ll be worked into the game plan a little bit more than he has all season.
Somehow, Hurts didn’t win the MVP of the game. That went to Josh Jacobs. It was the only thing that didn’t work out for Hurts tonight.