PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Michigan defense knew Jalen Milroe was coming – all 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds like the Alabama quarterback. He charged right into the middle of the play that would decide the arc of Michigan's season, this Rose Bowl semifinal and Jim Harbaugh's way of doing everything.
This was the kind of knowledge gained through film study, staying late to practice, and a little common sense. Alabama and Milroe thrived on explosive plays this season. Michigan relied on stoning those plays. Something had to give, even though it was clear what was coming.
“The word is 'attack,' right?” said Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. “…The ball will be in [Milroe’s] Hands. He is their best player. He's super versatile. … We wanted to force the issue and not sit back and wait.”
Sometimes it's best not to overthink these situations. On a fourth-and-goal from Michigan's 3-yard line in overtime, Milroe threw his body straight to the A gap – that wild low region on either side of center – where Michigan makes its living on both sides of center has Ball under Jim Harbaugh. In that moment, a rock-solid quarterback was stopped without success and more than one giant was killed.
For once, this at-times torturous season for Michigan's No. 1 seed has been rife with accusations and innuendo, just like Alabama's quarterback. At least they were overshadowed by the momentous result that put the Wolverines in position to play for their first national championship in 26 years.
“We don’t care,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t care what people say.”
The (accused) sign thieves became heartbreakers and soulbreakers in a 27-20 victory over No. 4 Alabama on Monday night. Milroe and the Crimson Tide happened to be in the way.
“We knew exactly what was going to happen,” Michigan linebacker Junior Colson said of the final play. “When the going gets tough, you go to your best player, and they went to their best player, and we were there right away to stop that.”
It took nine years since he arrived at Michigan, but Monday night was Harbaugh's proof of concept. It was his crowning achievement as a Michigan Man — at least for now. In a time of offensive explosion, his version of faceoff ball has definitely proven it can work.
For the most part, that was already the case. Michigan is making its third consecutive playoff appearance after losing its first two games 0-2. The points difference in 2023 alone (354 points) was more than 67 teams that scored in the entire season. Its defense is in danger of becoming the first since Alabama in 2011 to give up fewer than 10 points per game.
But Harbaugh and Michigan had to take that next step. In fact, I really needed it. Michigan needed to prove that a philosophy used to evaluate the Big Ten on the road could work at the next level. The next level is the conference Alabama competes in, the SEC.
You may have noticed that the Strength Everywhere Conference has won 13 of the last 17 national titles. For the first time since Oregon and Ohio State faced off in the inaugural CFP National Championship in 2015, the SEC will not play in at least the final game of the season.
Michigan was tougher, stronger, faster. It looked like an SEC team.
“It’s finally happening, especially against Alabama, especially against a great coach like Alabama.” [Nick Saban]“It’s definitely a turning point for the program,” Michigan linebacker Michael Barrett said.
There was a feeling of desperation in the air before the game. A core part of the Michigan team is out this offseason, and Harbaugh's NFL flirtations have become a distraction.
Lose this game and Harbaugh/Michigan will become the coach/team that can't win the big game. If not Monday, then when?
“The words you used are pretty good – proof of concept,” said special teams coach Jay Harbaugh, Jim's son and a senior member of the staff whose unit struggled badly Monday night. “It’s about holding guys accountable, you say[ing] them the truth. These things sound cliche, but they are the truth. This definitely confirms that.”
Jay saw his father post six 10-win seasons in his nine years, although none of them really addressed a major problem. Michigan has hosted just one shared national championship (1997) since 1948.
The tone for this game was set in late 1968 when Michigan hired a 39-year-old rookie named Bo Schembechler from Miami, Ohio. It was Bo who instilled in Michigan the courage, physicality and determination that led to Michigan's greatest successes. He never won a national championship, but developed the DNA that shaped Michigan's performance Monday night.
Schembechler, a benevolent bully, nearly kicked Jim Harbaugh off the team when the rookie arrived 10 minutes late for a meeting. Nearly. Harbaugh had a standout career with the Wolverines, becoming a beloved icon embraced by his former coach. Harbaugh's last college game – a loss to Arizona State – was 38 years to the day of that Rose Bowl.
Schembechler died in 2006 on the eve of that year's Ohio State game.
“I only met him once,” Jay Harbaugh said of Schembechler. “From what I’ve heard, that’s what I would say [legacy is] TRUE. Tell someone that Michigan is playing, that there's a certain type of football you expect. We like that. We are proud of that. We want people to turn on the TV and see this. I could imagine him looking down and being happy to see this type of football being played.”
Even though Milroe helped Alabama rally from a 13-7 deficit – which felt like a 27-7 given how Michigan controlled the game – the key player in the Crimson Tide's resurgence never felt complete this season probably.
Milroe was sacked six times, four times in the first half. He fumbled an incredible four times and lost one. Michigan's defense had 10 tackles for loss. It was more than that, though. A Michigan offensive line hurt by a season-ending injury to guard Zak Zinter held its own against Alabama.
That despair had turned to anger for some.
“I grew up in Georgia,” Barrett said. “That’s all I’ve really heard about. People from the South told me: Bama is this, SEC is that. All we heard all December was how fast, how big, how strong they were. All we could say was, 'So what?' All that mattered was what happened between those white lines.
When it came to buying time, Alabama was uncharacteristically hesitant. It has something in its eye because Michigan put it there. Alabama rallied and led 20-13 with 4:41 left. Michigan then quickly put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive centered around one of the biggest plays of the season. On fourth-and-2 from his own 33 yards, quarterback JJ McCarthy hit running back Blake Corum on a wheel route for 35 yards. Some of the yardage was negated by a block-in-the-back penalty, but the play kept the drive and the season alive.
McCarthy later told CBS Sports that he found a similar play on film from the 2020 Citrus Bowl, the teams' last meeting, which Alabama won 35-16. On this day, QB Shea Patterson beat RB Hassan Haskins. An interesting detail from this film study: In January 2020, McCarthy was a 16-year-old high school student. Current Michigan offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was the Wolverines' tight ends coach.
“We knew it was a must-have game,” said McCarthy, who had thrown one touchdown pass since Oct. 21 before Monday. Against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, he threw three.
“When you play a team like this, you have to go back years to figure out things that work against them, because not a lot of things work,” Moore said.
Four plays later, McCarthy hit wide receiver Roman Wilson with a 4-yard touchdown pass to tie the game and ultimately force overtime.
“We just didn’t finish the last four minutes of the game the way we would have liked,” Saban said.
The bullies had been bullied. And in extra time, the simple bludgeoning was completed. Corum scored the winning goal from 17 yards out on Michigan's first possession. When Alabama's turn came and the game was in Milroe's hands, Michigan grabbed the game with one last crucial stop.
The A gap has been closed. The season was saved. Michigan didn't think about it too much. Somewhere Bo was smiling. Bully Ball won alongside the Wolverines.
“Jim has a saying he uses every now and then: 'It's so simple, it might work,'” Jay Harbaugh said. “The blocking, the tackling, the lifting, the training… getting better at football by playing more football.”
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