Michigan football finally broke through and won a College Football Playoff game with a 27-20 win over Alabama in overtime to win the Rose Bowl.
Michigan shook the demons of the last two years to win its first semifinal game to reach the national championship game in Houston. Michigan got the ball first in overtime, and took just two plays to score on a Blake Corum touchdown. Michigan’s defense delivered a goal-line stop at the 3-yard line to secure Michigan’s first Rose Bowl win since 1998.
Alabama led 20-13 with just under five minutes left, but Michigan manufactured a 75-yard drive in the final minutes to tie the game, and came up with a stop with less than a minute left to force overtime.
The Rose Bowl kicked off at its traditional 5 p.m. Eastern timeslot from Pasadena, California, and was ESPN.
Michigan vs. Alabama game recap, highlights
Michigan’s top-ranked defense came up with the biggest stop in the biggest moment. Alabama’s drive came down to the final play and Michigan got a stop on fourth and goal to secure its first trip to the national championship in the playoff era. The Crimson Tide started with a first down on a 15-yard run from Jalen Milroe to get first-and-goal, and took three plays to reach the 3-yard line for fourth-and goal. Alabama called a quarterback power run up the middle, but Michigan’s defensive line stuffed the hole to secure the win.
Michigan got the ball first in overtime and only took two plays to reach the end zone for the lead. Corum cut outside left on a power run, following his blockers, and scampered in for the go-ahead touchdown. It was the 56th rushing touchdown of Corum’s career, breaking Anthony Thomas’ record for the most rushing touchdowns all-time in Michigan football history.
Alabama had a chance to win the game with 90 seconds left, but Michigan’s defense came up with a stop near midfield with 53 seconds left to force a punt. Michigan called a timeout to try to preserve clock for a chance to win, but another special teams gaffe forced Michigan to kneel on the ball and go to overtime. Jake Thaw was the punt returner, replacing Semaj Morgan who muffed a punt earlier, but he couldn’t handle the kick inside the 10-yard line and muffed the kick. Thaw jumped on the ball on the Michigan 1-yard line, forcing Michigan to run the ball up the middle to avoid the safety.
When Michigan needed it most, the offense finally put together a drive in the second half. Michigan marched 75 yards in three minutes to tie the game on a four-yard touchdown catch from Roman Wilson, who was wide open in the flat off a play-action. Michigan faced fourth-and-2 at the Alabama 40-yard line during the drive, and converted with a pass to a wide-open Blake Corum in the flat, who turned it into a 27-yard gain.
Alabama extended its lead to a touchdown with a 52-yard field goal from Will Reichard following Michigan’s miss. Alabama took nearly six minutes off the clock on the 35-yard drive by keeping the ball on the ground, starting with an 18-yard run from Jase McClellan to put the Crimson Tide in Michigan territory immediately.
Michigan failed to capitalize on the massive turnover. The Wolverines reached field goal range on the first play after a 20-yard completion to Roman Wilson, but couldn’t pick up any more yards from there. Michigan botched a flea flicker on second down from the 31, pushing them back to the 38, and had to use third down to get back into range. Harbaugh sent James Turner out for his first field goal attempt of the game, and the kicker hooked the 49-yard attempt wide left. Michigan is now 1-of-3 on kicking attempts with a botched extra point due to a bad snap in the second quarter.
Michigan had to quickly punt following the Alabama touchdown but got the ball right back thanks to the first forced turnover from the defense. Jalen Milroe tried to attack with his legs again, but stumbled during a juke and lost the ball on a hit from Quinten Johnson and Josh Wallace fell on the loose ball at the Michigan 49-yard line.
Alabama broke the scoreless drought in the second half with an eight-play, 55-yard drive, finished off with a 3-yard touchdown run by Jase McClellan. Jalen Milroe’s legs were the changing factor in the drive, as the quarterback scrambled for 31 yards on four runs, including two first downs. Milroe set up the touchdown with an 18-yard quarterback draw on second-and-15, powering through multiple defenders to the goal line.
There were plenty of punts to go around in the third quarter as the defenses continued to control the game on both sides. Alabama reached midfield on the first drive of the half but botched two snaps in a row to force a punt. Michigan picked up one first down in the quarter, but had to punt on both of its drives, to go along with another Alabama three-and-out. The quarter ended with Alabama in the Michigan red zone with a chance to tie or take the lead.
Alabama put together its longest drive of the first half which ended with a 50-yard field goal from Will Reichard to cut the lead to three just before half. Alabama started the drive with a 29-yard completion down the sideline to Jermaine Burton and moved into Michigan territory on a scramble from Jalen Milroe. The Crimson Tide had to settle for a field goal after Michigan sacked Milroe on third down at the Michigan 33-yard line.
Michigan started the game with some mental errors, including a near interception and a muffed punt, to fall behind 7-0, but settled into a groove on offense to take a narrow lead. Blake Corum tied the game an 8-yard touchdown catch, and Tyler Morris gave them the lead with a 38-yard catch and run for a score. Corum has nine carries for 51 yards, while J.J. McCarthy is 9-of-14 for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
Alabama’s offense capitalized with a touchdown off the muffed punt but hasn’t found much success outside of that drive. Alabama has 96 total yards, with 52 coming on the field goal drive before half, compared to 197 yards for Michigan. Michigan’s defensive line has manhandled Alabama’s offensive line, generating five sacks and making Milroe consistently uncomfortable.
Tyler Morris only had 11 catches on the season coming into tonight, but came up with the biggest reception of his career for his first touchdown of the season to give Michigan its first lead. J.J. McCarthy hit Morris on a crossing route and he turned up the sideline and beat the Alabama defenders to the pylon and dove through a tackle for the touchdown. Michigan mishandled the snap on the extra point, meaning it only came away with six points.
The drive was kickstarted on a trick play double-pass, where Michigan faked a screen with a backward pass, and flipped it back to McCarthy, who made a one-handed catch and spun to find Roman Wilson for a 20-yard gain while taking a massive hit from Dallas Turner.
Michigan’s offense found success on its second drive to reach the end zone and respond to the muffed punt and Alabama touchdown. The 10-play, 75-yard drive was finished off with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Blake Corum, who was wide-open coming out of the backfield. Corum started the drive with a 6-yard run and a 21-yard run to give Michigan its first first down of the game, and later picked up another first down on fourth-and-1.
It was the 56th touchdown of Corum’s career, breaking a tie with Anthony Thomas for the most touchdowns scored by a player in Michigan football history.
The muffed punt proved to be costly for Michigan. Alabama ran four plays, all runs, finished with a 34-yard dash by McClellan to take the lead. Alabama got a first down on a quarterback sneak on third-and-1, then broke the homerun run the next play for the early lead.
Michigan’s defense came out firing and recorded two sacks on Alabama’s first three plays to force a quick three-and-out, however, the Wolverines didn’t get the ball back. Freshman wide receiver Semaj Morgan was back to return the punt, and muffed the catch off his chest. The ball bounced away from him directly to Alabama’s punt coverage to give the Crimson Tide the ball back at the Michigan 44-yard line.
Michigan nearly had a disastrous start to the Rose Bowl. On the first play of the game, J.J. McCarthy rolled to his right on a play-action and tried to throw the ball away, but Alabama safety Caleb Downs leapt up and snagged an interception. After review, the call was overturned because Downs was standing out of bounds when he jumped for the ball, ruling him ineligible to touch the ball. Michigan couldn’t get anything going on the next two plays and went three-and-out.
Pregame notes
Michigan went undefeated despite dealing with multiple suspensions for head coach Jim Harbaugh and being embroiled in a sign-stealing scandal that is under NCAA investigation. Harbaugh missed the first three games of the season and the final three games of the season, but his absence didn’t impact the results on the field during the season for the Wolverines as they cruised to its third straight CFP appearance. Harbaugh and Michigan are squaring off with Saban for the second time in the decorated coaches’ careers with Alabama winning the first matchup, 35-16, in the 2020 Citrus Bowl.
Michigan’s defense and running game is a big reason for the success again. The defense enters the postseason ranked No. 1 in the country in total defense (239.7 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (9.5 points allowed per game) after stifling every offense it faced during the season, never giving up more than 24 points in a game.
Making Mike Sainristil: The unsung hero of Michigan football’s resurgence
Blake Corum, once again, is the engine of the offense, rushing for 1,000 yards for the third straight season to go along with his 24 rushing touchdowns, the most in the country, to etch his name in the Michigan history books. He, along with Donovan Edwards, paced the offense in the final month of the season, as quarterback J.J. McCarthy played through injury and saw his numbers go down. McCarthy, now healthy, and the passing game will be one of the x-factors of the game against an Alabama secondary full of future NFL players like Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
The top-ranked Michigan defense will be facing one of its toughest tests of the season against Alabama’s offense, which averages 35.1 points per game, led by dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe. He bounced back from being benched in Week 3 against South Florida, and has been responsible for 33 total touchdowns (23 passing, 10 rushing) and has thrown six interceptions since taking the starting job back over, good enough to finish sixth in Heisman voting and guide Alabama to a perfect finish to the season.
College Gameday pick
ESPN’s College Gameday pregame show was on the field at the Rose Bowl for its Saturday morning show. Lee Corso, the show’s iconic host, decided to put on a maize-and-blue helmet and strike a Heisman pose, signaling his pick for Michigan. Corso said it is possibly the most controversial pick he’s made in his 36 years on the show.
The other hosts on the show were split. Desmond Howard, who won the Heisman at Michigan, chose his alma mater to win, while Pat McAfee backed Alabama. Kirk Herbstreit did not give a pick for the game because he will be the color commentator on ESPN.