Roquan Smith recalls Tua Tagovailoa national title walk-off touchdown pass from his view

For years afterwards, Roquan Smith actively avoided watching and reliving his final collegiate game at Georgia — and in particular the final play. It’s a memory the 28-year-old eight-year NFL pro still describes as “gut-wrenching” to this day.

“Man, I honestly didn’t watch that play for years,” Smith, who is entering his fourth season with the Baltimore Ravens, told Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast on Wednesday. “Anytime somebody had that game on, I’d probably watch a couple of plays but then I’d walk away. It took me awhile to actually to watch that particular play because that was gut-wrenching.”

Of course, the play Roquan Smith is referring to is the iconic “2nd-and-26” game-winning touchdown pass beween then-Alabama freshmen Tua Tagovailoa and DeVonta Smith that sent the Crimson Tide to a 26-23 overtime win over his Bulldogs in the 2018 College Football Playoff national championship game inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The touchdown pass came one play after Tagovailoa was inexplicably sacked for a 16-yard loss by Georgia’s Davin Bellamy and Jonathan Ledbetter on Alabama’s first play of overtime after the Bulldogs took a 23-20 lead on their opening OT possession.

The Pardon My Take crew asked Roquan Smith what he remembers on that play and if he bought on Tagovailoa’s look-off off the Georgia safety that allowed DeVonta Smith to come open for the score.

“Naw, I didn’t bite at all,” Roquan Smith recalled. “It was basically like I was sitting in the middle of the field, moreso on my hash, and he looked one way and then went back the other way.”

Tagovailoa’s game-winning score capped an incredible second-half comeback effort after famously replacing then-Alabama starter Jalen Hurts at halftime after Georgia built a 13-0 lead over a Crimson Tide team that was participating in the third of four consecutive CFP national title games between 2015-18.

It ended the Bulldogs’ first-ever CFP appearance — and first in the second year under head coach Kirby Smart — and amounted to the program’s first national championship game since the 1982 Sugar Bowl against second-ranked Penn State that the Nittany Lions won 27-23.

Of course, Georgia avenged that loss four years later when Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett IV directed a 33-18 victory over Alabama for the first of back-to-back College Football Playoff national championship victories in 2021 and 2022.