Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer January 1, 2024, 10:51 p.m. ET
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- Covers the SEC.
- Joined ESPN in 2012.
- Graduated from Auburn University.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Alabama coach Nick Saban took the blame for Monday night's 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl.
Saban praised the Wolverines for a well-played game and said the result was due to the Crimson Tide's lack of execution.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Saban said.
Asked about the final play – a quarterback run on a fourth-and-goal in overtime that was aborted – Saban said the Tide were prepared for Michigan to apply pressure.
“But we thought we could get a head start on them and block them and make it work, but that's not the case,” he said.
On offense, Alabama finished the game with just 288 yards, thanks in large part to six sacks and ten tackles for loss. Jalen Milroe, who finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting, was limited to 116 yards passing and no touchdowns.
“It was a combination of things,” Saban said of the offensive line’s problems, including missed opportunities that redirected the defense as time ran out. “I thought we did a better job in the second half, but we didn't give Jalen a chance to make some plays and also didn't give our receivers a chance to make some plays down the field, which was a big part of it this game was.”
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Milroe said he appreciated the coaching staff for putting the ball in his hands last game.
“Everything came down to relying on your own training level, and we just failed on that play,” he said. “That was all.”
In the locker room, players gave different reasons for the team's problems in all three phases of the game.
Defensive back Malachi Moore said there were “mental errors across the board.” Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry said, “We could have done a better job of sticking together and following through on the instructions we were given.”
McKinstry said Michigan didn't do anything the Tide didn't see or weren't prepared for. Star edge rusher Dallas Turner, who led the team with nine sacks this season, couldn't provide an explanation for why the team sacked Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy just once and didn't record a single QB rush attempt.
“There might be some plays where I drop in or spy or something like that,” he said. “You know, I don’t always rush the quarterback. Why? I don't know it. I just do what I’m told.”
Offensive lineman Tyler Booker said Michigan “proved why they are the No. 1 team in the nation.”
But he added that the line didn't handle Michigan's stunts well up front — bringing rushers from different directions — which allowed the Wolverines to influence Milroe and disrupt the passing game. Alabama's 44 sacks allowed this season were the most in the program's last 35 years.
In addition to 13 presses on 33 dropbacks, Alabama struggled to consistently catch Milroe without making any mistakes.
“The plays were there to be made,” Booker said.
Those self-inflicted wounds and so-called “drive-stoppers” were reminiscent of early in the season, Booker said, when Alabama lost to Texas in Week 2 and struggled offensively in a narrow win at USF the following week.
“We fixed them over the course of the season, but as time goes on the competition becomes more and more intense,” he said. “When you play a team like Michigan, there’s less room for error.”
Booker said the final play of the game, where Milroe was stopped, was “one-back power/quarterback power.”
“Our mindset was to finish the game right away, but we just didn't execute,” he said. “And that’s just why we’re where we are now. We just couldn't do it. We did not make it.”
Booker said Saban's message to the team in the locker room after the loss was positive.
“He's just really proud of us, you know what I mean?” he said. “We overcame a lot as a team, from start to finish. It was just great, you know what I mean? Of course we are disappointed. We wanted to win the game. But at the end of the day when we look back on the entire season, this is a great team.”
Saban said the Tide were “obviously very disappointed with the outcome of the game.”
“I don't think we played great in the first half, but I was really, really proud of the way our players played in the second half,” he added. “We just didn't finish the last four minutes of the game the way we would have liked and we're all very disappointed and the players are disappointed too. But I told them one thing in the locker room afterward.” Game: This is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history considering where this team came from, what they were able to accomplish and what they accomplished, winning the SEC Championship and really, really proud of this group.
“I just wish I could have done more as a coach to help them succeed and graduate, and all we can do now is learn from the lessons that failure sometimes brings us.”