With only a month to prepare for Alabama head coach Nick Saban and trailing 20-13 with less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Wolverines managed to pull victory out of the jaws of loss, winning 27-20 in overtime.
Michigan supporters will always remember the 2024 Rose Bowl, even though the Wolverines’ performance was far from flawless. Okay, position grades, before Michigan competes for its first national championship since 1997.
GAME OF BLAKE CORUM LEGACY! In addition to scoring a receiving touchdown in the first quarter, Corum ran for 83 yards and the game-winning touchdown in overtime. With a play that will live on forever in Michigan history, Corum broke a tie with the “A-Train” Anthony Thomas to become Michigan’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns.
I was wondering, “Where is Roman Wilson?” during the game. Wilson was conspicuously AWOL for most of the game, but he rose (literally) to the occasion when Michigan needed him most.
McCarthy’s ball to Wilson on Michigan’s last drive of regulation was tipped and fluttered through the air, 20 yards down the field, on a first-and-10. With fewer than two minutes remaining, Wilson leaped into the air, grabbed the ball and took it inside Alabama’s 10-yard line as Michigan fans held their breath in anticipation of the victory. Wilson will pick the ball if he mistimes this jump. Wilson will probably pick the ball if he tips it. Wilson, on the other hand, knotted the game two plays later with a score.
Wilson finished the day with 73 yards and a touchdown, outgaining Alabama’s explosive tandem of Jermaine Burton and Isaiah Bond combined. In the second quarter, fellow receiver Tyler Morris
scored a touchdown and gained 45 yards after taking a bingo crosser all the way home.
Colston Loveland and A.J. Barner were outstanding in the run game and as chippers in pass protection; without their physicality on the edges, Michigan does not have the same success in either area of the offence, and Alabama’s fierce defensive ends could have had a bigger impact. The tight ends had a quiet day, but it was by no means a bad one.
