By Katie Windham
Special to Tidesports
Tua Tagovailoa keeps climbing through the Alabama record books.
For the second consecutive week, Tagovailoa tied his own school record with five passing touchdowns in a game after another explosive effort Saturday in Alabama’s 49-7 win over Southern Miss at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Crimson Tide scored on their third play from scrimmage with a screen pass to Henry Ruggs III that went for 45 yards.
Tagovailoa and Ruggs connected again on the Tide’s next possession, this time for a 74-yard touchdown.
“It’s fun. You get guys like that the ball in space, they’ll go make big plays for you,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t always have to take shots. I can just throw a little bubble, or a straight play and they’ll go make something happen with that.”
On Alabama’s first four offensive possessions, the junior quarterback was 12 of 13 for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
Overall, he finished with more touchdowns (five), than incompletions (four.)
With his 293 passing yards, Tagovailoa passed Jalen Hurts, Jay Barker and Greg McElroy to move into fifth all-time for Alabama passing yards.
He now has 5,902 yards through the air, and these numbers come after less than two full seasons as a starter.
“He’s just become more patient,” Ruggs said of Tagovailoa this season. “He trusts us and we trust him to make the right reads. He’s just taking what the defense gives him instead of trying to always take a shot.”
Tagovailoa continues to build his Heisman campaign for the 2019 season with 1,300 yards, 17 touchdowns and no interceptions through four games.
A scary thought for opposing defenses is that Tagovailoa said he still sees room for improvement, specifically because of the sack he took with 45 seconds left in the first half.
“There’s a lot of things I need to fix. There’s been a lot of miscommunication,” Tagovailoa said. “The two three and outs that we had, it’s a testament of us not doing things correctly and the miscommunications that we’ve had. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from it and grow from it.”
It’s hard to imagine much more growth in Tagovailoa’s game, but the quarterback has plenty of time to keep breaking records as Alabama heads into conference play.
