Everything Tua Tagovailoa had to say during his SEC Championship media availability
By Keith Farner
Published:
With so many similarities and overlap between the Alabama and Georgia defenses and coaching staffs, QB Tua Tagovailoa explained this week what it’s like facing both of them in practice and this week in the SEC Championship Game.
“I think they’re a really good defense, they’re a really good team,” the Alabama quarterback said. “But we’ve been facing them because of what our defense runs, and it’s very similar. It’s always going to be a challenge to go up against a team like this, but I don’t think it’ll be too big of a deal because we see a lot of it in practice.”
This matchup has been set for several weeks as Georgia has won five straight games since it lost to LSU behind the SEC’s top rushing offense and will face undefeated and No. 1 Alabama. Both teams are outscoring opponents by considerable amounts: 35 points a game for Alabama and 26 for Georgia.
Tagovailoa said decision-making would be very important, and Alabama would take would Georgia gives them.
“There’s different tendencies with Coach Saban and Coach Kirby,” Tagovailoa said. “Coach Kirby has a different style of calling defense, although they’re kind of similar. They’re going to disguise it a lot different, people are going to be in different areas. We just got to go out there and execute when we get the opportunity to.
The quarterback explained what it’s like having so much talent on offense at multiple positions.
“I’m like a kid in a candy shop,” he said. “I can go to the right and get a Snickers bar if I wanted to. Go to the left and get some Skittles. It’s really fun for me as a quarterback to be behind some first-round draft picks.”
Tagovailoa also explained how WR Devonta Smith’s attitude toward the national championship-winning catch is to enjoy it, but move on.
“It’s a mindset of it happens, it happens, move on,” the quarterback said. “It’s good that it happened. We got to enjoy it for quite some time now, and it’s a new season. Everything that happened last year, happened last year.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
