Ole Miss searches for answer to question: What’s the Tua Tagovailoa experience like?
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OXFORD, Miss. — There’s a simple question that’s becoming increasingly difficult to answer the more Tua Tagovailoa plays.
How in the world does one stop him?
After what Tagovailoa did to Ole Miss in his first career SEC start, that question is still unanswered. All Tagovailoa did was play roughly 25 minutes and complete 11-of-15 passes for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. He lit up the Ole Miss defense the same way he did to Arkansas State and Louisville.
In 3 first quarters in 2018, Tagovailoa now has 424 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown … all while leading Alabama to a 59-7 advantage out of the gate.
Like a southpaw uncorking a knockout punch with a swift left hook, Tagovailoa hit Ole Miss in the jaw before it even broke a sweat. But it was obviously more than one play that the Alabama sophomore dazzled the upset-hopeful crowd.
Granted, it was Ole Miss. Tagovailoa faced the same Rebels defense that allowed 629 yards to FCS Southern Illinois last week.
But to compare what the Rebels saw against Southern Illinois to Tagovailoa would be likening the Oxford High School coach to Nick Saban.
There was no attempt to dismiss Tagovailoa’s brilliance from Ole Miss.
“All the credit that he’s getting is well-deserved,” Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said.
Luke said that after watching his team become the latest victim of Tagovailoa’s brilliance. With all due respect to Ole Miss scout team quarterback Grant Restmeyer, who played Tagovailoa as the scout team quarterback, there is no simulating the Alabama signal-caller.
As Ole Miss found out, the Tagovailoa experience is a blur.
There were essentially two types of plays while Tagovailoa was in the game. One was Tagovailoa exploiting a coverage breakdown and delivering a perfect throw to an open receiver.
“(Tagovailoa) is a really (talented) player. He throws some good balls. Him and No. 4, Jerry Jeudy … but yes, he did play well. It was something where we could’ve taken more away,” Ole Miss defensive back C.J. Moore said. “But yeah, he can play.”
Ole Miss defensive back Zedrick Woods found that out the hard way. Facing third down in a 7-7 game early, Tagovailoa hit Jeudy in stride a few steps ahead of Woods, who was a split second late reacting and ultimately paid the price for it.
Seventy nine yards later, Alabama took a lead that it would never surrender.
There was a different type of play that Tagovailoa made Saturday night. It was still a third-down conversion — Tagovailoa is 13-of-13 on third down with 298 yards, 6 touchdown passes and 3 rushes that went for first downs — though there wasn’t really much that Ole Miss could do about it.
Ole Miss defensive back Javien Hamilton had Irv Smith Jr. covered perfectly, yet Tagovailoa still found a way to put it on the money in the corner of the end zone. The “thread the needle” variety might have been the most impressive type of Tagovailoa play.
“To make that throw under pressure was obviously a really good play,” Luke said.
Ya think?
Look at the precision on this throw by Tua pic.twitter.com/vDTfNn9bjf
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) September 15, 2018
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff was clearly frustrated with his team’s defensive output following the 62-point surrender. Consider that a natural byproduct of being on the wrong end of the Tagovailoa experience.
“The guy’s a good quarterback and he operates the offense very well. Very efficient. You can tell just by looking at the plays he made that he’s got a good football IQ,” McGriff said. “He made the car go for them tonight.”
That, Tagovailoa did.
McGriff came into Saturday hoping his defense would:
- A) Limit Tagovailoa’s mobility
- B) Dial up pressure on him
That, Ole Miss didn’t.
Tagovailoa hung in the pocket and stepped into throws like a third-year starter, and not like someone who was starting in his first true road game. Not only did Ole Miss not sack Tagovailoa, but he racked up an easy 47 yards on 5 carries.
“Tua’s lights out,” Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta’amu said.
Ta’amu watched his friend and fellow Hawaii native do what he couldn’t do — make it look easy (Ta’amu finished 7-of-22 for 133 yards with 1 touchdown and an interception). It no longer surprises Ta’amu when he sees Tagovailoa make throws like the ones he made on Saturday night. Ta’amu trained with Tagovailoa when they were kids, and still keep tabs on each other.
Tagovailoa treated Vaught-Hemingway Stadium like it was just another park back in Hawaii.
“When I see him out there making those throws, I said, ‘That’s what Tua does,’” Ta’amu said. “That’s hard to defend when he’s that good.”
Two months ago at SEC Media Days, Ta’amu said that he hoped he would get to face Tagovailoa so that they could have a Hawaii vs. Hawaii matchup. At the time, Tagovailoa had still yet to register a career start. Nick Saban wouldn’t show his hand as to whether it would be Tagovailoa or Hurts as the Alabama starting quarterback.
On Saturday, Ta’amu got what he wanted. Unfortunately for him, it was his counterpart who had the last laugh.
There was no trash talk or friendly banter between Tagovailoa and Ta’amu. Instead, there was a simple message that Ta’amu told Tagovailoa following yet another near-perfect performance.
“Keep balling out. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
If we’ve learned anything about the Tagovailoa experience through 3 weeks, it’s that neither of those tasks will be too tall for him.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
