Cary Clark's Greatest Games: 2018 Georgia

Talk about a made-for-Hollywood story. That would be the Dec. 1, 2018 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta’s sparking new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, starring Jalen Hurts.

Hurts came off the bench to replace an injured Tua Tagovailoa to lead Alabama to a comeback 35-28 win after his Crimson Tide was down 28-14 late in the third quarter.

You can’t make it up,

Hurts, then a junior, came on to complete 7-of-9 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 28 yards on five totes including the game-winning 15-yard touchdown with 64 seconds left.

“I’ve probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen,” said Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.

This was because two-year starter Hurts had lost his job to sophomore Tagovailoa earlier in the season but remained a good teammate.

“I know at Alabama there’s always an opportunity to win," Hurts added. "I’m so happy; happy for everybody.”

Hurts was the hero to be sure, but he had help. Josh Jacobs ran for 83 yards and two scores. Jaylen Waddle broke out as a freshman with 113 receiving yards on four grab s including a 51-yard catch-and-run TD. Corner Savion Smith had 11 stops on defense while Quinnen Williams and Deionte Thompson had eight each.

But this day belonged to Hurts.

“It’s unprecedented,” Saban said of Hurts’ resilience. “You’ve got to have a tremendous amount of class and character to put team first, knowing your situation is not what it used to be.”

As high as Alabama Nation was that afternoon in the ATL, the season did not end as Bama fans would have hoped. After beating Hurts’ future team Oklahoma in the Playoff semis, the Crimson Tide was destroyed by Clemson in the national title game in the Bay area of California.

That didn’t change what happened on that fateful day in the ATL, though. Hurts was, and is, an Alabama legend because of it. He’s also an Oklahoma legend as he took the Sooners to the playoffs and finished second in the Heisman voting to LSU’s Joe Burrow. Hurts is now a Philadelphia Eagle, having been picked in round two of the NFL draft.

And Hollywood, Jalen is ready when you are.