Michigan was the better team. I predicted a 27-24 loss to the Crimson Tide, so I wasn't too far off on how the game would feel - I thought it would be a close game that came down to the end. But from the get-go, it seemed like Michigan had the superior team on a down-to-down basis. They sacked Jalen Milroe on four out of his first six dropbacks, and the offensive line was holding up fairly well. Alabama's offense averaged 4.36 yards per play, while Michigan's averaged 5.95.
Hit the jump for more.
Except for the special teams. Yikes. We have become used to such solid special teams at Michigan that we take good performances for granted most of the time, but Monday night was awful. I had a coaching friend - who's not a Michigan fan but was rooting for the Wolverines - text me and tell me that was the worst special teams performance he's ever seen. And I couldn't necessarily argue. Freshman punt returner Semaj Morgan had a muffed punt, long snapper Will Wagner had a low snap on Michigan's second extra point attempt, Wagner had a high snap on a missed field goal, and Jake Thaw had a muffed punt that almost turned into the game-winning safety (or touchdown) for Alabama at the very end of regulation. Michigan's kickoff coverage was good, and that's about it. Hopefully Michigan got its abnormal special teams mistakes out of the way and can get back to solid play next week against Washington.
Jalen Milroe is sloppy. I tweeted (posted on X) during the game that Milroe is the sloppiest quarterback I have seen at Alabama in a long time, perhaps since before Nick Saban arrived. He was hurt by some bad snaps, but he looks uncomfortable even when taking some good snaps. His ball handling and footwork need to improve, and he's just not good at recognizing pressure or making decisions on the fly. He's still young, and he's a very good athlete at 6'2", 220. He made some great plays with his feet, but some of the comparisons I heard to Lamar Jackson . . . no, not even close. Milroe went 16/23 for 116 yards, and he ran 21 times for 63 yards. He yelled "Gimme that Heisman" following his game-winning TD pass to Isaiah Bond at the end of the Auburn game, which I thought was hilarious at the time. Then he went into the CFP and didn't even account for one touchdown. Again, he's not terrible . . . but he has a long way to go.
J.J. McCarthy, on the other hand, made some great plays. I was a little surprised at the end of the game to look at the stats and see that McCarthy completed 17/27 passes for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns. I had a bit of a negative opinion of his performance because of some uncharacteristically bad throws, such as the first play of the game - which should have been an interception if not for a lack of field awareness by Alabma safety Caleb Downs - and a terrible miss thrown in the general direction of Tyler Morris on a crossing route. Then again, he also made one of the greatest plays in Michigan history, and I don't say that lightly. On a throwback double pass from Donovan Edwards, he made a leaping one-handed grab to prevent what would have been a fumbled backwards lateral . . . and then he spun around and chucked it downfield to a wide open Roman Wilson for a 29-yard gain. Look, there's a reason that quarterbacks get drafted first . . . and win the Heisman . . . and are the first guys picked when you play backyard football. They're the best all-around athletes on the field. Everyone laughed at McCarthy's trick throws that popped up on social media of him training by jumping and doing a 360 and throwing the ball . . . but those skills show up in football games sometimes, just like they did on that play.
Blake Corum FTW. In my opinion, Corum was not as involved on Monday as he should have been. He's arguably Michigan's best football player, but early in the game, he wasn't being used. In the first four drives, Michigan went 3-and-out on two drives when he didn't touch the ball. The best player on the field should be touching the ball on every meaningful drive. He ended up with 19 carries for 83 yards and 1 touchdown, plus 2 catches for 35 yards and 1 touchdown. Maybe that game doesn't even get to overtime if he had, say, 25 carries instead of 19. I lamented back in 2022 that Corum was carrying the ball too much - before he suffered a season-ending injury - but now that Michigan is in the CFP, you have to ride your best players. Michigan lightened Corum's load during the season to preserve him for the playoff run, and now it's here.
The defensive line was outstanding. Altogether, Michigan notched 6 sacks. Five of those sacks came from defensive lineman, with the sixth coming from a blitzing linebacker in Michael Barrett. Braiden McGregor (2 sacks), Derrick Moore (1), Josaiah Stewart (1), and Kris Jenkins (1) all also had sacks. On the flip side, Alabama had just 1 tackle for loss the entire game, which was a sack by Dallas Turner. Unfortunately, Michigan lost defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny to injury early in the game, but Michigan is so deep on the line that it didn't have a huge effect.
Eric Wolford might be gone. Who's Eric Wolford? Wolford has been Alabama's offensive line coach the past two seasons. I might be making too much of one game, but really, it's been a season-long issue with his unit. Michigan embarrassed freshman left tackle Kadyn Proctor, a 6'7", 360 lb. monster who probably just needs more time before he's a great player. But that doesn't explain the missed blitzes that allowed Barrett and Stewart, among others, to get home for sacks. Sophomore left guard Tyler Booker and junior right tackle J.C. Latham both had giant gaffes, and senior center Seth McLaughlin had the worst game of all of them. How can you be in game fourteen of your senior year and have seemingly 50% of your snaps be at knee level or below?
Go Blue! No matter what happens next Monday at 7:30 p.m. EST, I'm glad a new team will be winning the national championship instead of an SEC program or *gulp* Ohio State. I would be even happier if that team is Michigan, of course. Washington has a very good team, and quarterback Michael Penix is one of the most awe-inspiring passers in college football over the past several years. He's on another level when it comes to passing accuracy, right up there with C.J. Stroud and Joe Burrow. He may not be an NFL success like those guys have been so far, but he's executing Kalen Deboer's system with great precision. On the one hand, I can't wait for next Monday. On the other hand, I'll enjoy the building anticipation until then. This is going to be fun.
Agreed on McCarthy's catch and throw as one of the greatest plays in Michigan football history. Which would be a fun list to work on.
ReplyDeleteJim Harbaugh this, Jim Harbaugh that, but the thing that has changed this program so dramatically over the last three years is the "Beat Ohio" drill for which we all owe a great debt of gratitude to Biff Poggi. You've seen it for three straight years against The very athletic, but soft Buckeyes, you saw it again against Alabama. We outhit Alabama on both sides of the ball for the entire game, particularly along both lines. I found it to be inspiring.
Alabama played 54 guys ... I think ... in the game. We played over 65 guys and maybe 67. That was impressive to me in a championship game. Player development at Michigan really is a thing, and it is my opinion that it showed up in a big way late where we felt to be the fresher and more eager team.
We looked to be as fast as they were everywhere, which as we all know, has not always been the case against New Year's Day competition.
I thought that our routes out of the backfield were really cleverly designed, and nicely run. On Blake Corum's TD catch, Cornelius Johnson was by far the closest guy to him when he caught the ball. I'm very interested in what Seth has to say about that play, as I thought that he was a bit too close.
I thought that Saban was very gracious in his comments after the game which I suppose he can afford to be at this stage of his career. But I loved his walkthrough of the fourth and goal play where he says that they really liked the look on the first play they had called, but maybe we knew that and called a time out. Still laughing as I type this. I do believe our boy Connor Stallions was at the game, so ... maybe.
Roanman
That was a mighty whiff from Mike. I still love him anyway.
DeleteRoanman
DeleteIt was indeed a mighty whiff from Sainristil, but I thought about this at the time...that's not his thing. He was basically lined up as a safety and needed to come downhill to fill a gap. He's a nickel guy who almost always makes his tackles coming outside-in, as an outside contain type of player. Not saying he can't do it, but that's just not what he's good at. Good for Alabama, perhaps, for recognizing what Michigan was doing and attacking him in space, because he was basically the only unblocked guy on the field.
DeleteI remember those JJ videos, and thought of it immediately
DeleteUnbelievably risky, but that's our guy!
Let's remember we went toe to toe with OSU back in 2016 and, hell, even 2017 was a drive away. QB play was the differentiator in those games. Beat OSU drill is fine but it's a gimmick - not like Hoke didn't emphasize OSU enough. Maybe you can say Don Brown didn't...but Harbaugh knows what matters.
DeleteIf we're being honest. I'd say the biggest change between the first few years of Harbaugh era and the last 3 years is Day not being Meyer in very specific ways that lend themselves to the rivalry turning. But hey at least their QBs are successful in the NFL...
Lanky, you miss the point. There is no substitute for hitting. 1 v 1 is all well and good, but this team hits in a 7 v 9 drill nearly every week. What's more they get pumped for it. That drill builds everything you really need in football, contact courage, positional accountability, timing across both lines. You still have to design plays, teach execution and whatnot, but we have been the physically toughest team on the field every game we've played with the possible exception of Georgia who was running out a defense for the ages. We might have overlooked TCU. Because Ohio State has been our thing until this year.
DeleteThat drill is huge.
Sure the drill was new or was it just the marketing of it? Poggi was certainly a good hire but let's not pretend like physicality is a foreign concept to Jim Harbaugh. The guy who learned under Bo, and turned Stanford around on nothing but.
DeleteIt took longer than maybe we hoped to get the OL to elite level - Drevno didn't have the answers the way that Warriner, Moore, and Newsome have. But the DL was beastly back in 2016 too, holding OSU's offense to 10 points (pretty much 3) in regulation.
The difference of the last 3 years is we are winning in the trenches on both sides - not just one of them.
I would also say Ben Herbert deserves more credit for the physicality. The overall roster depth is something the team has talked about all year. They didn't looked gassed at all in OT did they?
DeleteLook at guys like Barner and Bredeson who look significantly bigger than they did a year or two ago. These are not kids learning lessons they are men who have been been built up by Herbert.
Alabama has some big boys with lots of stars who will go high in the draft, but go across the starting OL and look at the years of experience and college level S&C of these kids:
Bama: 3, 3, 4, 2, 1.
UM: 5, 5 ,5 ,5, 5.
5th years vs 5th stars -- experience vs talent, men vs boys, however you want to frame it. Poggi was a part of this thing, just like Courtney Morgan, Ed Warriner, and yes even Don Brown are a part of this thing but he and they are not here and Moore, Harbaugh, Herbert are.
14 down. 1 more to go. Go Blue!
ReplyDelete3 things I ponder after the game:
1) Is our OL better after Zinter was injured? I thought our OL was better than Alabama DL.
2) Can our OL dominate Washington DL, the same way we beat Ohio in 2021?
3) Can our CBs cover Washington trio of NFL receivers?
1) No
Delete2) YES
3) probably not, but keep them on the sidelines with HARBALL
I wonder how much of the special teams play was just "rust" from the longer layoff? Michigan has, historically, not done as well as they might after a layoff. My guess (and hope) is that with the Alabama game under their belt, and a focus on special teams this week in practice, the engine will be better tuned-up for Washington.
ReplyDeleteWe turn the corner into a new era of college football, with expanded conferences and a 12-team playoff format. This year, that 12 team format would have included Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia, Missouri, and Ole Miss. Next year, if the same teams ranked the same way, there would be six SEC schools in the playoffs, and five B1G schools, so 11 of the 12 would be SEC/B1G with only Florida State being the odd "other conference" participant.
Rust is a possible/probable explanation...but it's frustrating when the other team had the same length of layoff and didn't also suffer from that rust.
DeleteIt was more than rust on SpTms. Wtf was Thaw doing out there in the 4Q, after sitting on his rear for 3.5hrs, eating a RoseBowl bacon wrap hotdog? Sending a guy out there cold is a recipe for disaster (he didn't field punta during halftime warmups either)
DeleteSpeaking of punts, what happened to Doman? It didn't help our Offense to be pinned back by Bama's Punter, while Doman could barely kick 36yds at times
Get to work Jay!
Dowman's struggles are curious. Didn't we deal with a similar late season slide from Robbins?
DeleteI think we have to recognize that punt return has been a weakspot all year to the point that Michigan is still grasping for answers.
Hey - but at least unlike Alabama it isn't our center!
It does not get better than that! I hope everyone is enjoying this moment. I know everyone at the game did - at least if they weren't wearing crimson. Sitting in the Bama section was such a treat. 95% of their fans where cool which was both surprising and refreshing. Congratulations were handed out generously and with class. Michigan fans were louder, all game long. It took well over an hour to get from the stadium to the next spot but the whole way was a celebration.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see all the Bama gear shouting me out. LOL.
On the field -- great performance by the team outside of special teams.
Milroe -- I had the opposite feeling than Thunder did - he was under siege all night and things would have a been a blowout if he hadn't shined. Minter gets the game ball for all those blitzes IMO. Minter attacked that left side all night. And the coverage (Johnson, Wallace, Moore, Barret, etc.) were locking guys down. With their center struggling so badly Milroe really saved their bacon. Let's be honest that was a coinflip game that could have gone either way (thanks to our special teams mess ups, granted) but one ball bounce away (e.g., the Wilson catch off the tip, Thaw's near disaster) from us bemoaning all the reasons we lost. Milroe would have been near the top of the list. Put in an average QB (lets say Payton Thorne) without Milroe's playmaking in the run game into that spot and it's a blowout. That kid took a lot of hits all night and never backed down. Respect.
Let's also remember Milroe and JJ are 3 or 4 younger than guys like Nix and Penix. Neither played flawless but JJ had a comparatively easy day.
The DL and the OL were the difference in this one. Our depth and experience were too much. Alabama has the 5-star headline guys but other than Caleb Downs and Miloroe the standouts were wearing maize and blue. Maybe that's credit to the coaches but I thought the majority of players were playing high level football all night.
There are all kinds of guys to shout out but I want to give some love to a couple of nominal backups in Josiah Stewart and Derrick Moore. Those guys benefitted from a great gameplan by Minter to be sure, but seeing them out there to close the game down in OT -- and on a clear rushing down 4th and 2! -- and more generally to be making play after play all game long was something else.
One thing this team has highlighted is how important depth is; our DL is always fresh and the contributions of guys like Goode and Jones and Harrell and Barnhart ended up being a big deal, even if those guys are not going to be drafted, let alone as highly as some of Bama's guys who ended up on their asses.
GO BLUE!
I have to admit to giving up. The JJ pick directly at the Bama Safety ... the muffed Punt ... Doman taking a day off ... Edwards up the middle ... the botched XP ... but we dominated the lines of scrimmage, and were up at half ... we were the better team, but I kept thinking - despite our experience & leadership - we just weren't ready for the bright lights
ReplyDeleteGoing into the 4Q, our offense had sputtered. The stadium rocked Mr Brightside, but then Bama played their HumpYourSister tune, and their fans were were MUCH more enthused ... look down to the sidelines, and our entire team was leading the Bama moment, shades of Wisconsin Jump around. This team doesn't quit! I was ashamed, with a heartrate over 12o, and wanted to believe. But then I saw Jake Thaw, and nearly broke, and THEN he muffed it. I was out of sorts
It all ended in the most exciting & spectacular finish I've seen live, and probably aged me 1o-2o years ... on to Houston, where I'm hoping for a much more comfy win. 31-24, National Champions
*Blake Corum is without a doubt on my top3 list, joining Harbaugh & Woodson (replacing Des)
Why wasn't Junior Colson's 2Q sack counted? Milroe was behind the line
ReplyDeleteI believe that was awarded to Jenkins, if it's the play I'm thinking of.
DeleteWatching the skycast now, and it was definitely #25
DeleteCredited to Jenkins, who barely touched Milroe