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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Forget about a Heisman moment, Tua Tagovailoa put together a Heisman half. For a second straight week, the sophomore quarterback helped Alabama overcome its first-half frustrations as he orchestrated an offensive resurgence to lead the Crimson Tide to a 52-21 victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
After Alabama clung to a narrow 17-14 lead at the half, Tagovailoa rallied the Crimson Tide out of danger on its next two offensive possessions. The Heisman frontrunner completed his first seven passes of the second half, including perfectly-placed touchdowns to Jerry Jeudy and Josh Jacobs from 47 and 33 yards out respectively. A 40-yard strike to DeVonta Smith later in the quarter put the game well out of reach as Alabama enacted revenge over its bitter rivals.
Tagovailoa completed 25 of 32 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns while adding another 26 yards and a score with his feet. In the second half alone, he completed 11 of 12 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns. Tagovailoa’s six combined touchdowns give him 41 on the year, breaking Alabama’s single-season mark of 36 set by Jalen Hurts in 2016. Tagovailoa will have at least two more games to expand on the record as No. 1 Alabama faces No. 5 Georgia next week in the SEC Championship game before playing in a bowl game and possibly the College Football Playoff.
While Tagovailoa and the offense ran away with the game, the Crimson Tide’s defense put the clamps on a pesky Auburn offense in the second half. The Tigers used a little trickery to stay close in the second quarter as wide receiver Ryan Davis caught a backward pass from quarterback Jarrett Stidham before throwing it across the field to a wide-open Malik Miller for a 23- yard touchdown to trim Alabama’s lead to 17-14.
However, any magic the Tigers could muster dried up in the second half. Trailing Alabama 31-14 in the third quarter, Auburn elected to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the Crimson Tide 23-yard line. Originally lining up for a field goal, the Tigers split its players out and had backup quarterback Malik Willis throw a pass to kicker Anders Carlson. However, Carlson was stopped a yard short by Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain, allowing the Crimson Tide to take over.
After carving Alabama’s secondary up through the air last during last year’s 26-14 victory, Stidham found things a little more difficult Saturday. The redshirt junior quarterback completed 13 of 30 passes for 127 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Anfernee Jennings tallied eight tackles and a sack while recording his first career interception. Dylan Moses and LaBryan Ray both tallied a team-high nine tackles, while Shyheim Carter led the team with three pass breakups to go with six tackles. Defensive back Jared Mayden was ejected from the game for targeting during the third quarter and will be forced to miss the first half of the SEC Championship Game next week.
Alabama will try for its 27th SEC title next Saturday as it faces Georgia at 3 p.m. inside of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be a rematch of last year’s national championship game when the Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs 26-23 in the same venue.
