A freshman backup quarterback. Off the bench in the national championship game. Sent to Alabama from Hawaii to save the Crimson Tide.

And the kid did it on the last play with a 41-yard spinning, spiralling miracle.

It was theater. It was magic. It was Disney. It was all the energy in a stadium built for just this moment sucked into one single subatomic particle and then released with the gravity of a thousand exploding stars.

In one half of football, and then one single, life-altering second on a Monday night in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa linked himself to all of the greatest memories in college football history. Tua to Smitty. Forever. Alabama 26, Georgia 23. It's cultural canon. It's why we love sports. Roll Tua Roll.