Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide took care of business this past weekend against Southern Mississippi. Tagovailoa completed an efficient outing in essentially three quarters. His Heisman case is strong and there is a strong chance that he is the No. 1 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft but there is always room for improvement. 

CBS Sports examines what he did well this weekend and areas in which he still needs to improve. 

What went well for Tagovailoa

The Hawaii native is an exemplary leader. He is poised in the pocket and has a great sense of awareness. When trouble arises, he escapes and picks up a few yards. His legs will not frighten opposition but his 3.7 yards per carry is better than getting sacked. Tagovailoa would exit this game late in the third quarter after completing 17 of 21 passes for 293 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions. He added three carries for eight yards.

On this particular play (the bottom clip in the thread), Tagovailoa draws the safety up with his eyes, which allows wide receiver Jerry Jeudy to escape on a wheel route for a touchdown:

It is the same play that was seen in last week's breakdown of Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert:

Tagovailoa has a great amount of confidence in his wide receivers and, why shouldn't he? Henry Ruggs III and Jeudy will be taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle are future draft choices as well. There may not be a team in the country with more talent at the position. 

His accuracy is great. His touch is elite. His ball placement could be better. His footwork is great.

What did not go well for Tagovailoa

The Crimson Tide outmatched Southern Mississippi by a wide stretch. Any criticism of Tagovailoa is nitpicking but that is what talent evaluators will have to do in games like these. In the first quarter, the quarterback hit Ruggs for a 74-yard touchdown. The ball flew 42 yards in the air but it was a bit underthrown. It should have been thrown a little earlier. The second video below in the thread shows the small timing issue:

Later, he was behind on an out route to Waddle. He was late on a few other throws. On this particular play (bottom video in the thread), Jeudy establishes inside leverage and space but Tagovailoa throws it a bit late and behind, which allows the Southern Mississippi player to make a play on the football. 

The junior rarely has to go beyond his first read because he has so much talent at the wide receiver position. He displays average arm strength and is occasionally pretty loose carrying the football. The left handed quarterback has a shot put looking throwing style as well. Alabama has three games that could potentially be competitive on their schedule: at Texas A&M, home vs. LSU and at Auburn. 

Their other remaining games are against Ole Miss, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Western Carolina. Those teams are a combined 11-12 this season. 

Takeaways

Tagovailoa has thrown 25 incompletions and 17 touchdowns this season. He has yet to throw an interception. They have not played a difficult schedule this season but he has done what he is supposed to do against lesser competition. 

At the end of the day, Tagovailoa is leading the race to become the first quarterback taken in the 2020 NFL Draft. Realistically, Georgia's Jake Fromm and Herbert are the other two quarterbacks in the conversation right now. Utah State's Jordan Love, LSU's Joe Burrow and Washington's Jacob Eason could also enter the equation with more exposure. 

While Tagovailoa displays average arm strength, he demonstrates great touch and accuracy as well as great decision-making and pocket awareness. A rematch against Georgia would be welcomed. Last season, the Bulldogs' game plan kept Tagovailoa in the pocket, called for mirroring of the running back and forced the quarterback to throw downfield with his below average arm. In non-Georgia Power 5 games, the Crimson Tide averaged 3.54 receptions by running backs. They completed just one pass to a running back against Georgia and it went for negative yardage. Tagovailoa completed 10 of 25 passes for 164 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. The game plan is already there to stop him.