Alabama junior quarterback Jalen Hurts on Saturday led the Crimson Tide to a 35-28 win over Georgia in a wild comeback for the SEC Championship.
Hurts was famously replaced by Tua Tagovailoa during last year's college football championship, and Tagovailoa led Alabama to a big comeback over Georgia.
This year, there was a highly publicized quarterback competition coming into the year, with Tagovailoa winning the job and leading Alabama to a 12-0 record this season. With 36 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and a 70% completion rate, Tagovailoa came into the game as the Heisman Trophy favorite.
However, on Saturday, Tagovailoa left the game with an injury while Alabama trailed Georgia, 28-21. With 10:33, on 3rd-and-12, Hurts was inserted into the game by head coach Nick Saban. Hurts promptly threw for a first down, then, 12 plays later, threw a touchdown to even up the game.
After Georgia's drive stalled out on a fake punt on 4th-and-11, Hurts and the Crimson Tide took over again with 2:59 remaining. Hurts eventually led Alabama downfield, then took the ball himself and ran in the go-ahead touchdown. It ended up being the game-winning score.
Hurts was supportive of Tagovailoa last season when Tagovailoa led Alabama to win in the championship game. This year, he got a measure of redemption.
Read more: A labama quarterback Jalen Hurts had a gracious response when asked about the backup quarterback replacing him and leading the team to the championship win
On Saturday, Tagovailoa was supportive, saying: "I am really happy for Jalen. I'm happy that he had a chance here, and everyone on the team knew he could do what he did."
After the game, Saban nearly choked up discussing Hurts, saying: "I'm so proud of this guy for what he's done this year, I can't even tell you."
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