Tua Tagovailoa’s performance in the national championship game was extremely impressive, but who would have thought heading into this years SEC championship game he would be the favorite to win the Heisman?
In the season thus far, he has a completion percentage of 70.3%, 3189 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and just 2 Interceptions.
His efficiency is ridiculous. His total QBR is 212.5, and he’s only played in two fourth quarters all season. He is an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses.
“He’s improved tremendously,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “I mean he was really good in that half, but you have to remember, they had two really young linemen in the game. They had a lot of receivers that were playing at that point that were really young that have grown up. Their receiving corps is extremely talented, and they all seemed young then. So now they’re all very experienced, very talented, and he has them at his disposal to make good decisions and put the ball in the right people’s hands, and his decision-making and touch and accuracy is really just off the charts.”
Creating pressure and making him uncomfortable in the pocket is one of the few things that have been somewhat effective in disrupting Tagovailoa’s rhythm.
“It would be great to do that,” Smart said. “It would be awesome to do that. I think if you can disrupt the pocket and get him out – to do that you have to take a lot of chances, and there are some good players back there behind those chances you’re taking. They also can expose you when you’re not balanced up on the run. I mean, there are similarities between their offense and our offense. They do a really good job offensively of running the ball and putting together run packages. They just don’t have to use them all the time because they’re really explosive. So getting pressure, affecting the quarterback – absolutely that’s critical. But not giving up big plays is, too.”
Mississippi State and LSU defenses both had some success against Tagovailoa but were far from shutting him down.
The one benefit that Georgia has is a significantly better offense then either of those teams and should be capable of putting up some points.
The real question this Saturday isn’t if Georgia can shut Tagovailoa down, because that isn’t going to happen, but whether or not the Bulldogs can keep up with Alabama’s unstoppable offense who has shredded everyone this season?