ESPN illustrates how the final Alabama snap altered Jalen Milroe’s ability to tie Michigan

ESPN took some time to illustrate exactly what happened on the final play of the game between Michigan and Alabama.

The Wolverines stopped Jalen Milroe short of the goal line, and won the Rose Bowl in the process. While many questioned the play call from the Crimson Tide, ESPN’s Jeff Saturday explained why it was a good call, but a bad snap from Alabama’s center changed everything.

“Snap affected the timing for sure. When the quarterback gets the ball low, can he recover? Absolutely. But it’s hard for him to get his eyes up to look,” Saturday elaborated, via Get Up. “If the back was even in consideration, that’s off. Now he’s going to have to pull the thing down. But here’s the deal, this has been an issue all season. It happened in the first half. They ended up getting in a 3rd and 29 because of two bad snaps back-to-back.

“When the pressure moments happen like this and you’re in gun and you’re that compressed, everything happens fast. The center realizes, ‘I’ve got to get this block, I can’t let somebody run free,’ so he kind of short-snaps it. Then when Milroe catches it low, I believe he kind of panics. Instead of following the guard, he takes the ball up in the A-Gap. I think one mistake compounded into many. Just unfortunate.”

Continuing, Dan Orlovsky went more in-depth on what was going through Milroe’s mind, surmising that with a better snap, Alabama could be headed to the national title game.

“This is really an RPO, where it’s run or pass at the same time. … They’re trying to snap the ball, they motion the back at the snap. They’re trying to read the linebackers. If the linebacker on the front side flows with the back, we’re going to run quarterback power. They’re going to pull the backside guard, and then we’re going to try right up the middle to score. Now the backside linebacker flows. If he flows, I would’ve anticipated that Milroe throws the ball to the back, and it’s a foot race to the pylon,” Orlovsky explained. “Here’s the thing, (Jermaine) Burton goes out on 3rd and Goal. He’s their best receiver for Alabama. The guy who’s been Jalen Milroe’s guy. So you’re calling a play on 4th and Goal from the three-yard line. Number one, you don’t have your best receiver and most reliable. Number two, you’re anticipating pressure. Michigan has brought it all night. What is the best play design-wise to take advantage of that? It’s not one of those fades. It’s hey, can we out-leverage somebody, which they do, and throw the ball in the perimeter, or can we get those guys on the perimeter or on the edges to pressure and run right up the middle? I think this is a good play call.

“I think the snap — here’s the thing, Milroe’s trying to catch that snap, and he’s trying to see what’s happening with that backer. Once the snap kind of goes down to mid-calf, his eyes do have to go down. I think the big thing that they told him was like, you’ve got to make sure you see the ball when you catch it. … When the snap is bad, his eyes drop down and he’s no longer able to see that linebacker to throw the ball to the back.”

Alas, a good snap of the football is something we seemingly take for granted while watching football. Alabama fans certainly won’t be doing that anymore, after it may have cost them a chance at another national title.