2018 College Football Championship a Nail-Biter

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Laura Mejia, Sports Editor

The College football playoff national championship game was held on the 8th of January, and I must say: what a game it was! The game was played by the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Georgia was up for the majority of the game, but let the win slip through their fingers completely.

By the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 0-0, with no teams scoring. The second quarter is where we began to see some action happen. On the second play of the second quarter, Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship hit a 41-yard field goal to open the scoring, and with that, put Georgia in the lead by three points. Alabama was not making any moves in the quarter, seeing as to how they gained 4 yards on three plays and nonetheless punted as well.  And just before the quarter would end, at Alabama’s 1-yard-line, Mecole Hardman took a direct approach, faking a hand-off, and ran into the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. By halftime the score was 13-0, Georgia.

Now, this second half of the game was straight up just insane to watch. Since Georgia chose to defer the coin toss, Alabama had the ball first in the second half.  Alabama was able to score their first points of the game on a 6-yard pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Henry Ruggs III, although they weren’t able to bask in the ambiance of it for long because Georgia immediately responded with an 80-yard touchdown, putting Georgia up 20–7. Alabama, however, was able to get 3 more points before the quarter ended with Andy Pappanastos successfully hitting a 43 yard line field goal. And by the end of the third quarter the score was 20-10 Georgia. In the fourth quarter Tua Tagovaiola led the Alabama tide to score again and tied up the game. By the end of the fourth quarter the game was tied 20-20, making it fall into overtime. During overtime, Georgia managed to scored on a 51-yard field goal. But, during Alabama’s first offensive play in overtime, Tagovailoa was sacked for a 16-yard loss, but immediately followed up with a game-winning 41-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. At the end of the game, Tua Tagovailoa was named the offensive player of the game, and Da’Ron Payne was named the defensive player of the game.