Confessions of a Bama Hater: That Was Actually Pretty Cool
Alabama won another championship but this one is different — why even the staunchest Bama haters should appreciate the Friday Night Lights ending
Alabama won another national championship Monday night. Maybe you heard.
It was Bama’s fifth natty in nine years and their 17th all time — or 15th or 11th, depending on who’s counting (10, if you ask Central Florida). Those 11 national championships are the most in the modern era. The Crimson Tide just keep winning titles. And they’re impossible to root for.
I hate Bama. You hate Bama. Nobody roots for Alabama unless they were born in Alabama, and even there, half of them yell War Eagle instead.
And so as the curtain fell on yet another NCAA football season with crimson confetti raining down and Nick Saban at the mic, it’s easy to just put this season on the shelf right next to all those other Crimson Tide championships and forget about it, another opportunity lost for another Alabama victim.
But this one was different.
Monday was supposed to be about Georgia’s kids, not Bama’s.
What about sophomore Mecole Hardman, the positionless kid from Elberton, Georgia, just two hours from where the game was played? Hardman took Champ Bailey’s #4 jersey, and you’ll forgive Bulldog fans if they saw a little Bailey out there Monday night. Hardman ran the ball, caught it, returned kicks, and played corner. He finished with three tackles and 164 all-purpose yards, including two electric touchdowns. He was a lock to be named player of the game and set for offseason Heisman buzz as the newest two-way star.
How about sophomore Riley Ridley, known coming into the game only as Calvin’s baby bro? Older brother Calvin was on the other sidelines and at the heart of the Bama game plan after three outstanding seasons, 20 touchdowns, and almost 3000 yards from scrimmage, a future high NFL draft pick. The only people that even knew Riley was playing in this game were probably his parents in the stands. Yet there he was outshining big bro Cal, nearly equaling his own entire season output with six big catches for 82 yards.
What about the bespectacled Rodrigo Blankenship? The sophomore Shea Serrano lookalike hit a career-long 55-yard field goal against Oklahoma and nailed another clutch kick in overtime, then was a perfect five-for-five Monday night including an ice-cold 51-yard kick in overtime that looked for a few minutes like a championship winner.
And what about freshman quarterback Jake Fromm? Fromm was a 2017 Alabama recruit but decommitted to follow coach Kirby Smart to Georgia. He began the season as a backup but was propelled into a starting role when Jacob Eason got hurt, making his first start at Notre Dame in Georgia’s first game north of the Mason-Dixon line in half a century, a 20–19 victory. He kept winning from there, a true freshman leading his team all the way to the national title game. And now, little old freshman Jake Fromm State Farm was about to beat Nick Saban to win it all.
Georgia’s kids were going to be legends. And then they weren’t.
When you think about Alabama football, a pretty clear idea probably comes to mind. They play smart, boring football. They run the ball, run again, then run some more. The defense smothers the opponent, lulling them into submission. Lather, rinse, repeat. The formula works, but it sure is boring. Alabama has more talent than everyone else, gets more second chances than everyone else, plays more defense than everyone else, and just keeps on winning. Bama won the Heisman twice in the last decade and three others finished runners up. Alabama is just plain better than everyone else.
But they were not the bigger, faster, stronger team Monday night. They were not the more prepared or better coached team. For once, they were not better. Kirby Smart had his Bulldogs ready. He knew how to shut down Jalen Hurts and Calvin Ridley, how to contain that fearsome Bama rushing attack, how to attack a defense he’d led so long under Nick Saban.
The halftime scoreboard read 13–0, but Bama was reeling. After missing a field goal on their opening drive, they’d gone three-and-out four straight times outside of one long Jalen Hurts run. The offense had just 94 first-half yards, and the defense had been on the field all game and was slowly getting chipped away by the Bulldog rushing attack. Alabama couldn’t move the ball and, increasingly, couldn’t stop their opponent either.
Georgia was better, and by halftime everyone in the stadium knew it — including Nick Saban.
History may forget the guts it took for Nick Saban to send Tua Tagovailoa out there to start the second half. Maybe Tua wins a Heisman or another national title and history tells us Saban was sitting on Tagovailoa all season, strategically waiting for this moment to unveil this special secret weapon he’d been hiding all season long. History will be wrong.
Do you realize how easy it would have been for Nick Saban to just do the thing we always think guys like Saban and Bill Belichick do? He could’ve stood silently on the sidelines and stuck with Alabama football, waiting for the Georgia kids to falter, for his highly touted stars to make a play. When the game ended and Bama came up short, he could’ve pointed to a lifeless run game or thrown Hurts under the bus. Saban could’ve just let things play out and waited for the Tide to rise, like they usually do. Either they’d win, or he’d have five or ten easy names to blame. Saban was already a five-time champion, winning every year despite a new coaching staff and new players. In college football, Nick Saban is the dynasty. His legend was already secure.
Instead, Saban put this one on himself. At halftime, he pulled his quarterbacks aside and made the decision. He was benching career 25–2 starter Jalen Hurts, the guy who’d led his team to back-to-back national championship games. He was going with the 18-year-old.
Alabama opened the second half with a quick three-and-out under Tagovailoa. Saban told his freshman he would be rotating quarterbacks in the second half. After yet another failed drive, this was his chance to admit his cute little experiment had failed and go back to the sure thing in Hurts.
A blocked punt at the end of that drive nearly ended the game. Georgia would’ve gotten the ball in the red zone, already up 13–0, ready to widen the lead against a team without a quarterback. But Georgia was called offside (questionably, it seemed) and Bama punted safely away.
And Saban stuck with Tua.
For all Nick Saban has done right in college football, the guy can never seem to find himself a kicker. And until Jalen Hurts, he never seemed to have much of a quarterback either. For years, Saban won with defense and a run game, and in spite of his quarterback. But Hurts looked like the player that had finally brought Saban’s offense into the 21st century.
Only a sophomore, Hurts is already the owner of several Alabama records. He was the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Crimson Tide in 32 years and was MVP just one week ago in a convincing semifinal win against Clemson. Hurts was 25–2 as a starter. He scored 25 touchdowns this season and threw only one interception. He surely woke up Monday morning thinking it was a chance to etch his name into the Alabama history books. That guy is the one Saban benched at halftime of a national championship game with everything on the line.
Hurts began Monday night as the favorite to win player of the game. He finished it without a job. There’s a decent chance Hurts never plays another snap for Alabama. You might see him next as a Texas A&M backup in 2019 after sitting out a transfer year. College football is a cruel mistress.
Yet there Jalen Hurts was, cheering his backup on from the sidelines. There was Hurts, the first one on the field to celebrate Tua’s touchdown pass. There he was being interviewed after the game, happy to be celebrating a college football national championship, something he’d always dreamed of. What a teammate — what an outstanding example of sportsmanship. What an example for viewers everywhere.
And then of course there was the kid, Tua Tagovailoa. Remember how that blocked punt would surely have ended the game? Alabama stuffed Georgia’s drive and sent Tagovailoa back out onto the field for a long methodical touchdown drive that pulled the game back to 13–7 — but then gave up a bomb a few plays later that felt like it ended things again.
And if that didn’t end it, Tagovailoa surely did a couple plays later. Down 20–7, Saban sent his 18-year-old out once again. After a first down incompletion, the freshman rolled left and threw awkwardly across his body to no one in particular — intercepted! Now Georgia had the ball up 13 already near scoring position inside the Bama half of the field. Surely the Alabama dream was over.
But the defense flipped the script again the very next play, just like they did a week ago when it seemed Clemson was finally getting things going in the third quarter. This time Raekown Davis made the big play, intercepting Fromm the play after Tua’s interception to give the ball right back to Alabama and give them a second chance, or maybe a sixth or eighth at that point.
You remember what happened from there. A field goal cut the lead to ten, then another cut it to seven. A late drive appeared to be stalling before Tagovailoa threw a fourth-down touchdown to Calvin Ridley to tie it. Another Georgia stall gave the ball back, and Tua led Bama into field goal range for what looked like a championship-winning chip shot.
And then they blew it again.
Georgia hit a 51-yard field goal to take the overtime lead, then sent the defense onto the field to win a title. And boy did it look like they would. On first down, Tagovailoa rolled out, scrambled, turned to scramble again, and was smothered for a 16-yard sack. Second down and 26 from almost midfield, down three with only two plays to get back into range for a long field goal from a kicker who’d just completely shanked one only minutes before. Every fan in the stadium and at home knew that game was over.
Not Tua.
Tagovailoa hurried his offense to the line, got the call from the sidelines, and took the snap. After the game, Tagovailoa talked about how he recognized a disguised Cover-2, how he stared down his receiver on the right to look the safety off before unleashing the perfect spiral down the left sideline.
Think about that — Tagovailoa probably woke up Monday morning groggy, ready to watch from the bench as Jalen Hurts led the team to a national title and cemented his place among Alabama legends, securing his job for at least another season at quarterback. You wonder if Tagovailoa might have secretly wondered, in his worst moments, if maybe it’d be better for Bama to have missed the playoffs altogether and forced a change at quarterback, or if maybe the Tide were blown out Monday night that he might get a shot next season. Instead, Tagovailoa was ready. He came into a national title game as an 18-year-old true freshman and bounced back from a quick interception to throw for 166 yards and three second-half touchdowns. He ran himself into a circle and cost his team the game on one play, then read the defense perfectly 20 seconds later and threw a laser strike to win a national title.
That is some Friday Night Lights stuff right there! The backup comes in for the embittered coach, replacing the star quarterback and overcoming mistake after mistake before a 2nd-and-26 bomb from midfield to win a national championship? That’s too ridiculous for even QB1 Matt Saracen.
There are other stories that will go untold. Star Bama running backs Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris had just 10 carries Monday night for 39 yards. Superstar receiver Calvin Ridley had only two catches for 16 yards before that fourth-down TD. Senior Andy Pappanastos missed the biggest kick of his life. It was not his night, nor Ridley’s or Bo’s or Damien’s. It was not Jalen Hurts’s night. It was not the night any Bama fan expected when they dreamed and talked about this day all season.
It’s easy to forget that part — the part about Alabama fans dreaming about this moment, reveling in this incredible and unlikely comeback for years to come. Alabama fans get to celebrate just about every season, so the rest of us hardly get excited for them. Oh yay, another win for the Tide, glad something finally went right for all those Bama fans. But this one’s not like that.
And I would know — I’m a Bama fan.
Okay, I’m not an Alabama fan. Not even close. I hate Alabama. I wake up each morning rooting against Alabama and Duke and the Yankees and Patriots, just like every other good red-blooded American.
But I am a fan of another dynastic team: the North Dakota State Bison. The Bison are the Alabama of the FCS. We — yeah, I said “we” — have won six FCS titles the last seven years. We have 14 national championships in all. We haven’t lost more than two games in a season since 2010. Winning is what we do. We won back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back national championships, lost in the semifinals to James Madison a year ago, then got our revenge against JMU a few days to secure another title.
In North Dakota, football isn’t just a thing we do casually a few Saturdays in the fall. In North Dakota, NDSU football happens all year. The schedule every fall only lists 11 games, but we plan each year for 14 or 15. Fans buy tickets to the national championship game a full year in advance. They have standing reservations at hotels and bars and tailgating lots in Frisco, Texas, or South Fargo as we like to call it.
In North Dakota, NDSU football is a way of life. For three weeks leading up to the championship game, the news led off each night with the latest in the quest for another Bison title. The lead news story one night was about a group of tailgaters, another time about our injured third-string running back. There were cameras following fan buses to Texas, breaking updates on flights, interviews with coaches and players and fans. Head to the mall any given day, and you’d see green and gold as far as the eye could see. Head to the nursing home to visit Grandma and the residents would see your Bison hoodie and ask about the players by name, excited to see if we could finish the job.
Here in North Dakota, Bison football is practically a religion. I can’t imagine what it’s like here when we lose a playoff game — in part because we pretty much never do. We really are that insufferable. We really are that winning-is-everything-we-dare-not-lose-not-even-one-time. This year’s championship came down to the final plays, staving off a James Madison Hail Mary. We were not the better team that day, but we found a way to win.
And three years ago, we had our Bama 2018 moment. At that point, we were three-time defending champs but the run was supposed to be over. A huge senior class had left after an undefeated season, and the coach left along with them. A new coach took over in a rebuilding year, and an unknown redshirt junior took the reins at quarterback. We fought hard all year and made the playoffs, escaped with one-score wins the first two rounds, and made it all the way to the title game again. And we had Illinois State on the ropes but gave up a late score in the fourth quarter, suddenly down four with a minute and a half left, the championship and the dynasty on the line.
And that’s when we gave the ball to Carson Wentz. Wentz threw a 32-yard strike on first down, then a second for 13 yards and a third 33-yard laser a few plays later to bring the Bison down to the five. He ran the ball in for a touchdown the next play, and a legend was born. The next year Wentz led the Bison to another national championship, a fifth straight for North Dakota State. Then he was drafted second overall by the Philadelphia Eagles, and now he’s a genuine MVP candidate and led the Eagles to the best record in the NFL. Carson Wentz is our little hero story. Bison fans are Eagles fans now, too.
And it all started that day.
Alabama is not going to be mistaken for Cinderella anytime soon.
Bama gets every benefit of the doubt. The Tide have been selected for the four-team College Football Playoff all four years, and I myself argued six weeks ago (and still believe) that they did not deserve their spot this year. Alabama catches every break. They’re favored every game, more talented than every opponent, given more opportunities than any other team.
Alabama is the college football version of #privilege. They’re not Cinderella. They’re the villain of the story, the one Cinderella has to overcome. They’re the ones Deshaun Watson vanquished, the team Johnny Manziel made his mark against. No one chooses to root for Alabama. No one is excited when they win the big one again.
But maybe this time is different.
Maybe this Alabama team was special. Maybe this Bama team was the underdog that was never supposed to be here, the team that needed a string of precise results and a favor from the committee to even get their chance. Perhaps this Bama team was the underdog Monday night, fighting back time and again as the lesser of two great teams, pulling out every stop when the game appeared to be lost on at least five separate occasions.
Maybe Tua Tagovailoa is Cinderella in this story, the leader of a ragtag group of freshmen who were never even supposed to be playing Monday night, leading an overmatched team to a shocking victory in a script even Disney would have turned away. Perhaps we can all stop and appreciate one iconic Alabama win, maybe just this one time.
And maybe the Tua Tagovailoa story is still just beginning…
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