PASADENA, Calif.– The Rose Bowl matchup between Michigan and Alabama was supposed to be a referendum on the quality of football in the B1G this season.
Two of the three highest ranked teams in this conference– Ohio State and Penn State– had already both lost to SEC teams in post-season, leaving the top-ranked Wolverines to uphold the honor of the league against a conference that has dominated the College Football Playoffs.
Michigan proved it was up to the task, rallying from a 20-13 deficit to tie the game on a four-yard pass from junior quarterback JJ McCarthy to Roman Wilson, then win it 27-20 in overtime when running back Blake Corum scored on a 17-yard run on the first possession of overtime before a crowd of 96,371.
With the win, the unbeaten 14-0 Wolverines clinched a trip to the national championship game against Washington and a measure of retribution for last year’s disappointing 51-45 semi-final loss to TCU.
McCarthy in particular had been thinking about that game for 12 months.
“When he left the podium, he leaned over and said to me, ‘Well be back next year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.
”Then he added, ‘And next year, we’ll win.”’
McCarthy kept his promise, completing 17 for 27 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns in an epic, if imperfect game that stamped McCarthy as the Offensive Player of the Game and one of the all-time greats at Michigan. “Got a long way to go to be where Tom Brady eventually got to. Brady is the goat. He’s lapped the field with his NFL career. But in terms of a college career, I think he’s the best quarterback in Michigan history.”
McCarthy lit the fuse that ignited Washington’s offense during the final three minutes of regulation and then in overtime.
The Wolverines put together an 8 play 75- yard drive to tie the game, with McCarthy completing a 27- yard pass to Corum on a fourth and two to give the Wolverines a first down at midfield, then setting themselves up for the tying touchdown on 29- yard pass from McCarthy to Wilson that gave Michigan a first and goal from the Alabama five-yard line.
Then, in overtime, the Wolverines scored on two plays, an eight-yard run.by Corum before taking off for the game winner.
Michigan won the B1G the last three years, but the Wolverines were unable to get over the hump in the national semi-finals the last two seasons.
But this win has erased some of the pain. “Happy New Year,” Harbaugh said. “Great way to start the New Year. it was glorious.”
Unbeaten, second-ranked Washington felt the same way after its 37-31 victory over Texas that came down to one final play– an incomplete pass from the 12-yard line after the Longhorns looked like they might steal the game in the final 45 seconds.
Both semi-finals delivered in terms of suspense and drama.
Michigan’s win provided a salvation for Harbaugh, a colorful, but controversial personality who was suspended for the first three games of the season by the NCAA for illegal contract with prospects during the dead period and he final three games of the regular season in a sign stealing scandal.
But Michigan persevered.
“It’s almost been an unfair advantage, all the things that the team is gone though,” Harbaugh said. “We don’t care anymore. Don’t care what people say. Don’t care about anything that comes up. We just know we’re
going to overcome it.”
This was the best Michigan team since 1997, when the Wolverines finished unbeaten and won a share of the national championship with Nebraska.
But there were constant questions about how good the Wolverines were. “First it was Penn State was stronger than us. We had to take care of business,” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said. “And then it was Ohio State, we had to take care of business. Then it was Bama. time and time again, people doubted us. It didn’t matter the situation. We had to prove to the world what this block M means, man. Who we are.”
There was little question about Michigan’s swarming defense, which limited the Tide to just 43 yards rushing and sacked Alabama dual threat quarterback Jalen Milroe five times in the first half. They limited Milroe to 116 yards passing while holding the Tide to just 288 yards total offense. The Huskies came up huge when it counted most in overtime.
Alabama had the ball in a fourth and goal situation from the three- yard line with a chance to force a second overtime. “We had a pretty good idea they would give the ball to him,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “We just wanted to keep him from being able to dictate the terms of that play. We wanted to be the aggressor.”
Milroe kept the ball and attempted to rush up the middle for the game tying score. But a swarm of Michigan defenders refused to give ground. stopping him in his track and set off a wild scene in the stands with the team rushing the field.
The all too obvious play call itself created some second guessing directed toward Bama offensive coordinator Tommy Reiss.
Alabama had won three national titles since the playoff system started in 2014 and the SEC had won six of nine, But Nick Saban’s Tide had been playing with fire all season long after losing to Texas in the second game of the season in Tuscaloosa. Alabama needed a touchdown pass from Milroe in a fourth-and-31 situation to beat Auburn in last regular season game then got into the playoff when it leapfrogged from eighth to fourth in the final College Football Rankings after they defeated defending national champion Georgia in the SEC championship game at Atlanta. It looked like their luck might hold up after they rallied from a 13-7 deficit to take a 20-13 lead on a 52 yard Will Reichard with 4:40 to play.
But Michigan made the plays when it counted to survive and advance.
