Admittedly, Nick Saban couldn't believe what he saw.

In a crucial moment, his freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took a 16-yard loss on a first-down sack vs. Georgia in overtime of the national championship, essentially taking Alabama out of game-tying field goal range with a shaky kicking game.

Saban could barely collect himself before greatness happened on the ensuing play.

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On 2nd-and-26 from Georgia's 41-yard line, Tagovailoa looked off a Bulldogs safety and fired a bomb to a wide open DeVonta Smith for the game-winning touchdown.

“I asked Tua after the game, I said, ‘Why did you take a sack when we needed a field goal to stay in the game?’ He said he just needed more room to throw the ball,” Saban said over the weekend at a Mercedes VIP event via AL.com. “That’s how it happened.”

Alabama's overtime possession wasn't how it was drawn up, but Tagovailoa's heroics helped Saban to his sixth national title and fifth with the Crimson Tide.