Before I started watching NFL draft prospects over the past week or so, we were in that dry period of the offseason where there’s not much going on. So over the last few weeks, I’d been rewatching certain College Football games. I mostly was rewatching LSU from last year, just because Joe Burrow and that offense were really fun to watch. But one of the games I also decided to watch was the Georgia Alabama National Championship Game from 2017, the first season I started watching College Football. It was only three years ago, but a lot has changed since then. This was the game where Tua Tagavailoa burst onto the scene, replacing Jalen Hurts at halftime to bring the Tide back to a spectacular 26-23 overtime victory. Up until that point, Tua had been a relatively unknown backup. A lot happened in the College Football world since then. Rewatching the game, both knowing the result of that game already but also knowing everything that’s happened since then, was an interesting exercise, and I left with a few interesting takeaways that I thought I’d share.
The Matchup: Georgia vs Alabama
As I mentioned earlier, three years is an eternity when it comes to College Football. Barring exceptions, NCAA Division I Athletes typically only have four years to play football in a five year span. They are allowed to forego their senior year to declare for the NFL draft after their junior (third) year. So lots of players won’t play all four years, and if they do, rarely is it all at one school. Because of all this, it’s a sport with yearly turnaround, where people are always looking ahead to the next batch of recruits, the next biggest thing. And you see that with this game: Georgia Quarterback Jake Fromm and Alabama Quarterback Tua Tagavailoa were both true freshman in this game, just stepping onto the scene. Now, they’re both preparing for the NFL draft in a few weeks. So is Jalen Hurts, who started the 2017 season for Bama as a true sophomore before being benched at halftime of the natty for Tua. Many of the players on those Georgia and Alabama teams also went forward to be NFL stars in the past few years.
So what led to this matchup during the 2017 season? It wasn’t by any means a shocking matchup, as these were two very good teams, but it certainly wasn’t the matchup that everyone was expecting throughout the season. In fact, Bama almost didn’t make the playoff in the first place. Despite a dominant start to the season, Bama entered the playoff as the fourth and final seed, and they didn’t do so without controversy. Many people believed that Ohio State was more worthy of the final playoff spot than Bama, as Bama stayed home during Championship Weekend after a late season loss to Auburn, while Ohio State was crowned the Big 10 Champion with a win over Wisconsin. During that Championship Weekend, Auburn seemed to me to be the clear SEC favorite for the contest, as they had already defeated heavyweights Alabama and Georgia during the regular season, the only defeat of the season for both of those programs. The Georgia defeat was a resounding 40-10 win by Auburn, which is why it was surprising when Georgia beat Auburn 28-7 in the SEC Championship rematch. That Georgia team was also a bit of a surprise, as true freshman QB Jake Fromm took over early on for the injured sophomore Jacob Eason (a 5 star recruit), and went on to have a fantastic season for Georgia. Georgia’s first playoff contest was a fantastic Rose Bowl shootout with Baker Mayfield and the Sooners. Although Mayfield, the eventual Heisman Winner, was all the rage that season with a seemingly unstoppable offense, it was Georgia that came out on top of the shootout in a double overtime victory. As for Bama, after the committee gave them the okay over Ohio State for the fourth playoff spot, they made easy work of No 1 ranked Clemson 24-6. The final matchup was set: Georgia vs Bama. Neither of them were flashy teams, as both relied on a run game, game-manager style QB, and good defense to win. Because of that matchup and those teams’ style of play, the Championship ended up being a bit lower scoring than we would see in the next few seasons. Nonetheless, it was a great, close game that came down to the wire and had a fabulous finish.
Georgia Was Loaded
Although Georgia made it to the SEC Championship in 2018 and 2019, 2017 was their only playoff appearance of the last three years. They had a lot of talent, but most impressive to me was the two headed running back combo of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, which powered Georgia throughout that playoff run. Both of them would go on to be stars in the NFL. Nick Chubb is currently the foundation back for the Cleveland Browns, and although that offense struggled last year, he runs hard and certainly looks the part. Sony Michel didn’t have the best 2019, but his 2018 season saw the Patriots employ a run first attack with Michel as the lead dog–especially during the playoffs–that ultimately led the Pats to their sixth Super Bowl ring, which might have been their most surprising yet.
Georgia also had playmaker WR Mecole Hardman at the helm on offense and returning kicks. Hardman played for Georgia during 2018 as well, and in 2019, he was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs and would go on to help Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes win their first Super Bowl ring each.
And lastly, there was dominant middle linebacker Roquan Smith, who was eventually drafted high by the Chicago Bears and helped solidify their defense along with Khalil Mack. It was a Georgia team with a lot of big time players, and it’s always fun to look back and see successful NFL guys back in their college days. You never know where those guys are going to end up or what they’re going to do when you’re watching them while they’re still in college.
Nick Saban’s Decision to Put Tua in at the half was a Ballsy Move
Halftime of the National Championship saw Bama face a 13-0 deficit with very little offensive production to speak of. That’s when Nick Saban made a move that ultimately won him a championship but at the time seemed crazy: He pulled his starting QB in favor of a true freshman that had never started a game before. Jalen Hurts, the incumbent starter, was 20-2 as a starter. His only losses were that year’s game at Auburn, and the previous year’s National Championship. During the 2016 Championship, Hurts gave his team a late lead, only for Deshaun Watson to pull Clemson ahead with zeros on the clock.
Hurts was well respected in the Bama locker room, among fans, and in the media. Furthermore, he didn’t even have that bad of a half. The offense as a whole struggled, especially up front, and Hurts’s rushing yards gave them some of their only offense of the half. It was a brutal benching for Jalen. Nonetheless, Tua was the better passer, and Saban said he felt Bama needed to pass the ball to win.
Bama would come back and just squeeze out the win, despite Georgia seemingly in control time and time again. Tua ended up being the playmaker, bringing Bama back in the game, throwing a miraculous game tying TD pass on 4th down late in the fourth quarter, and throwing maybe an even more miraculous TD pass in overtime to seal it. Kirk Herbstreit said that Tua’s presence gave Bama a spark. The “spark” theory is that a QB change can impact and motivate the rest of the team to play better when they’re in a slump, even if the incumbent QB isn’t all to blame. In this case, that ended up being true.
If Georgia won, we’d probably be looking at Saban’s decision to bench Jalen for Tua very differently. But you have to take the big risks in big games when the time calls for it in order to come out on top. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Sean Payton’s decision to start the second half of Super Bowl 44 with an onside kick. An insane decision, but one that ultimately paid off. As NFL Coach Bruce Arians (whose book I’m currently reading) always says, “No risk it, no biscuit.”
This Game Was a Grind
Ultimately, this was the biggest takeaway to me. Because of Tua’s late game heroics, and because of what he’s done since this game, I remembered this game as being a phenomenal performance by him. And it was, but it wasn’t like the next few years, where Bama would put up an automatic 40 points and 300 yards every time you played them. This game was not an aerial circus. The comeback was fueled by Bama running the ball well, some good run after the catch by Bama receivers (Tua had a lot of WR screens and passes thrown to the flat), good defense, and Tua keeping the chains moving. But for much of the second half, it was a defensive battle, and it could have gone either way. It was a good game and a good performance by Tua, but it wasn’t aerial fireworks.. at least not until the end.
Georgia Got Conservative Late
Georgia started this game with a 13-0 lead at halftime. It was a surprising performance from the newbie coach (Kirby Smart) against the savvy veteran coach and team in Bama and Nick Saban. Kirby is Nick Saban’s protege, and he, like Saban, believes in winning with the run game and defense. But he also knew that that would be a struggle against an Alabama defense. So Georgia started the game with more of a spread passing attack, with Jake Fromm attacking Bama through the air on early downs with quick passes and tempo on offense. And it caught Bama off guard. Fromm was sharp, and Georgia was moving the ball efficiently and scoring.
At the half, Tua was able to give Bama some offense and brought them back into the game with a phenomenal drive, cutting the deficit to 13-7. Georgia would eventually answer. On 3rd down and long, Georgia was backed up on their own side of the field. Bama decided to come with the blitz, and Georgia made them pay. For one of the few times that game, Georgia went deep and was able to get behind the defense. Jake Fromm hit Mecole Hardman in stride, and he took it to the house, 20-7.
Georgia didn’t score again until overtime. Bama crawled their way back into the game, hitting on a field goal and another field goal to eventually make it a one score game, before Tua brought them down the field late. But Georgia didn’t score on something like their final 4 drives. The offense had stalled from their hot start early on.
This is where it gets complicated. Throughout the season, Georgia had never been a team to throw the ball a ton and win shootouts. With the lead, they were playing the game on their terms. They simply wanted to run the ball and end the game, and they weren’t able to do so. If they had passed the ball more and failed, they likely would have gotten more criticism. It’s always less controversial to fail in conventional ways than take chances. Look at all the criticism Kyle Shanahan has gotten in recent Super Bowls from choosing to pass the ball at times late in those games.
However, I couldn’t help but notice that Georgia really had Bama’s number early in the game. Jake Fromm was sharp, the offense was moving, and Bama was on their heels trying to defend the tempo and short passes on early downs. It seems to me that by slowing things down and getting more conservative late, Georgia played into the hands of the Bama defense. It allowed Bama’s defense to dominate up front, which is where they had the advantage. Again, this conversation may be different if Tua doesn’t make a few miracle plays late. Maybe Georgia didn’t trust Fromm as much after the interception, I don’t know. But seeing as how things did play out, Georgia’s conservative play-calling certainly seemed to keep Bama in the game. And you can’t do that against a championship caliber team like Bama; you have to go hard for 60 minutes.
Bama Was in Position to Win Twice
This was actually one thing I did remember from watching the first time around. We know that Bama pulled off the miraculous overtime victory, but what people may not remember is they also had a chance to win in regulation. Tua and Najee Harris took Bama down the field late, and Bama’s kicker Andy Pappanostous missed the field goal badly wide left. As anyone who’s familiar with College Football knows, Bama is no stranger to missed field goals.
Bama Almost Blew It
What most people remember is Tua’s 41 yard touchdown pass in overtime to win the game. It was a dart down the sideline to Devonta Smith for the walkoff touchdown. But on the play before that, Tua took an awful sack. He tried to escape the rush instead of throwing the ball away, and he lost a whopping 16 yards on the play. That Bama was able to come back and throw the game winner right after that is what made that moment all the more incredible.
Georgia Blew It On Defense
The game winning touchdown was mostly looked at as an incredibly play by Tua and the Bama offense, and rightfully so. A 41 yard walkoff touchdown down the sideline with two true freshmen is definitely the stuff of legends. Having said that, it’s not entirely clear what Georgia was thinking on the play.
As always, you have to start with the situation. It’s overtime. Alabama is backed up at their own 41 after a big sack taken by Tua. It’s 2nd and 26, and Bama had the ball second in OT after Georgia kicked a field goal. That means that on this possession, Bama had three options. They could win with a touchdown, tie with a field goal, or lose with a turnover. Georgia’s number 1 priority was keeping Bama out of the endzone.
I don’t know exactly what defense Georgia was playing, but it looked like some sort of cover 2. They had two safeties deep, and a couple of linebackers playing short zone. Kirk Herbstreit, when analyzing the play, focused on what a great job Tua did looking off the safety so as to give himself a window to hit Devonta Smith down the field. And that’s true; Tua did bring the safety out of position on the play with his eyes. But more alarming to me is how Georgia let Devonta Smith run by the defense. Smith starts to the outside ever so slightly, then slips back inside the cornerback, and by then the corner is toast. Smith is running full speed at the corner, and he beats him by quite a few yards. The corner doesn’t jam Smith, but he also starts the play backpedaling, ensuring that he has no chance at covering a streaking Smith down the sideline.
Maybe the corner was expecting more help from the safety. But if you’re Georgia, why are you playing this defense when you have Bama backed up in OT? Your only job is to not get beat deep. On 2nd and 26, even if Bama gets half the first down yardage, Georgia is still in good position to make a hold. That means you play super soft and make Bama throw underneath. Instead, Georgia accomplishes close to nothing with their underneath defenders, and forces their lone two deep defenders to accomplish the impossible task of covering the width of the field. If you don’t want to play soft, you blitz and get there. Or if you want to play cover 2, you have your corners jam the receiver to buy your pass rushers some time. But a passive cover 2, without top level NFL corners, will give you the deep sideline throw 99% of the time. That’s especially true in college, where the hash marks are wider and the safeties have more ground to cover.
The only explanation here is that Georgia knew Bama didn’t trust their kicker, and they didn’t want to let Bama throw intermediate to let him back in field goal range. Or, they simply didn’t trust the freshman QB to throw deep (or anticipate that he would). Whatever the explanation, it certainly looks like a coverage bust in retrospect, and one that cost Georgia the game at that.
Rodrigo Blankenship Was Clutch… But Hasn’t Always Been Since Then
Rodrigo Blankenship, Georgia’s superstar kicker, nicknamed “Hotrod” and famous for his black-rimmed eyeglasses, burst onto the scene for Georgia that 2017 season. A former walk-on, Blankenship won the kicking job in 2016, and Kirby Smart put him on scholarship in 2017–a fact that Blankenship announced to a jubilant team in the locker room after booting the go ahead field goal during that season’s win at Notre Dame. Since then, Blankenship has been a favorite both among fans and among the team.
Blankenship only continued to cement his legacy during the 2017 Rose Bowl, Georgia’s win against Oklahoma. It was the semifinal matchup of the playoff contest, and Blankenship nailed a Rose Bowl record 55 yard field goal before the half. He was just as spectacular in the championship game against Bama, going 3/3 on field goals of 41, 27, and 51 yards. The 51 yarder was in overtime.
Blankenship peaked statistically in 2017, but he remained productive throughout his UGA tenure. He won the Lou Groza award after his senior (2019) season, and is set to be the top kicker in the upcoming draft. But I couldn’t help but notice that in the few years after, he had a few crucial misses in big games.
During Georgia’s 35-28 SEC Championship loss to Alabama in 2018, Blankenship missed his only field goal attempt of the day, a relatively short 30 yarder in the third quarter. Georgia was leading 28-14 at the time, and the kick would have stretched their lead to three scores. Fast forward to this past season, and Blankenship again struggled in the SEC Championship, this time to LSU. During the 37-10 loss, he went 1/3 on field goals, missing a 52 yarder down 7-0 in the first quarter, and a 37 yarder down 20-3 in the third. That’s two straight years of SEC Championships where the normally reliable kicker had uncharacteristic misses. The worst of last year was Georgia’s home loss to an eventual 4 win South Carolina team. Jake Fromm had a terrible day throwing the football, throwing three interceptions, one of which went the other way for six. Blankenship had a chance to tie up the game in OT, but pulled the 42 yarder left, ending the game. It was a bad kick, one that a kicker the caliber of Blankenship has to make.
Of course, this is all too small a sample size to draw any definitive conclusions from, and Blankenship is still a terrific kicking prospect. But I felt it worth noting.
Jake Fromm and Georgia Never Got Back
Georgia’s been a fun team to root for in recent years. As I mentioned, their head coach Kirby Smart was a former Nick Saban (Bama) disciple, and both in the 2017 championship game and in the SEC since, they’ve been easy to look upon as the “good guy” young resistance to Saban’s reigning empire. Jake Fromm, their quarterback, has also been a very likable guy and someone easy to root for after he took over the starting job in 2017. And Smart, by most measures, has done a fantastic job with this Georgia program since taking over. But he, and they, haven’t been able to get over the Bama hump and become the new leaders of the SEC. And 2017 was the closest they got.
That Championship loss was a heartbreaker. They gave up leads of 13-0, 20-7, and watched a true freshman QB who had never played a meaningful college snap toss the game winner in overtime. What makes it even more painful is that the following year was arguably even more heartbreaking. Georgia was facing off against Bama again during the 2018 season, this time during the SEC Championship game. Again, Georgia had a big lead–this time 28-14–in the third quarter, only to watch it melt away once again. Bama came back to win 35-28, ending Georgia’s Championship hopes. In a strange bit of irony, Tua Tagavailoa was the starter in this game, but he left the game due to injury, and the now backup Jalen Hurts of all people, came back to win the game for Bama. It was the opposite of what happened the previous year, but the result was the same. Georgia had Bama right where they wanted, but they weren’t able to finish.
Fast forward to 2019, and LSU, not Bama, was now the class of the SEC. They played Georgia in the SEC Championship and dominated them 37-10. Georgia’s defense actually played LSU decently, but the Georgia offense was out of sync from the start, as had been the case for most of the season.
It must be painful for Georgia fans to look back over the past three years knowing just how close they were. For as good as Jake Fromm was for this program, and as good as he played at times against Bama, he wasn’t able to bring Georgia a championship.
But Neither Did Bama
This is actually arguably the more interesting storyline to come out of this game. This win seemed to mark the turning of the tide (no pun intended) for Bama. For years, Bama had been the best team in college football under head coach Nick Saban. This championship win would give the program 5 national championships in just 9 years under Saban, a remarkable number. But they never won with elite, high volume passing offenses. They won by playing good defense, running the ball, and having game managers at QB. Now with Tua at the quarterback position, the possibilities for Bama were endless. I remember Kirk Herbstreit talking about it on his ESPN podcast after the game. He said that for most of 2017, Bama had to grind out wins, often just sneaking by in the 4th quarter. And he was right. 2017, despite the eventual championship, was not a great Bama team. Remember that they made the playoffs as the 4 seed and were almost left out entirely. But now with Tua throwing the football, defenses were going to have it rough the next few years.
On some level, this was correct. Tua would go on to have two of the best passing seasons not just in Bama history, but in college football history. The Bama offense was stacked, and Tua was unstoppable. If he hadn’t gotten injured late in 2019 and Joe Burrow hadn’t emerged out of nowhere, Tua would likely be a consensus No 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Which makes it all the more crazy that Bama didn’t win another Championship with Tua after his 2017 breakout win.
By normal college football standards, Bama has been a top tier program the past two years. They’ve only lost three games total, and one of those was a championship game. But Bama, much like the New England Patriots, plays solely to win Championships. Anything short is a failure. Nick Saban would be the first one to tell you that, and he said as much after this year’s Citrus Bowl win over Michigan.
Bama may have had a historic passing offense under Tua, but with that, the defense has not played up to its usual standard. Bama has historically been known for having the best defense in college football. Here is how they fared in their three crucial losses over the past two years:
First, the 2018 National Championship game, the subsequent year Tua’s 2017 breakout win: Bama got routed by Clemson, losing 44-16. It was the worst loss of Nick Saban’s career. This past year, Bama’s first loss of the season was the game of the year, where they hosted the surging LSU Tigers. Bama lost 46-41. Defending Joe Burrow sure isn’t easy, but this wasn’t the type of performance you’d expect from Bama. After that loss, Bama could not afford another loss and still make the playoff due to their weak strength of schedule. Their final regular season game saw them go into Auburn and lose 48-45. Although you could point to Bama’s missed field goal towards the end, as well as Guz Malzahn’s trick play to run out the clock late as culprits for the loss, Bama has no business giving up 48 points to an average true freshman QB–no matter how weird things have gotten for them at Jordan Hare over the years.
Ultimately, Bama will have netted zero championships from their two greatest offenses in their history. That’s a problem, and it makes you wonder if Nick Saban’s era of dominance in college football is over. Things may be shifting toward Clemson (and maybe LSU) as the new SEC powerhouses.
It’s a reminder that great offense isn’t worth much if you can’t complement it with great defense. Bama isn’t likely to go back to playing conservative on offense with game managers at QB. They continued running their offense as usual with Mac Jones last season after Tua was hurt, and they have five star Bryce Young set to takeover at QB next year, an incredibly highly recruited player who should be a monster. They also have Tua’s younger brother on the roster, who is also a QB.
At the end of the day, Bama fans likely can’t look at Tua’s two full years starting at Bama without seeing them as missed opportunities. If Bama wants to get back to playing to their standard of football, they’re going to have to show up on defense in the big games.
What was once seemingly the beginning of the road for two great programs is now the end. Jake Fromm and Tua move onto the NFL Draft, and it begins a new era for Georgia and Bama. As for the games we watched last year during college football, as well as the ones we’ll see this upcoming year, it’s interesting to wonder how we’ll look back at those games years from now, whether or not our expectations will have matched up with reality, and what unexpected twists and turns will have occurred along the way.
Cary Krongard's Football Blog 