Jim Harbaugh praises 'phenomenal' job of Michigan DC Jesse Minter vs. Alabama

Of all the folks wearing maize and blue at the Rose Bowl on Monday night as Michigan toppled Alabama, 27-20, in overtime, few had a better outing than Wolverines defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. From the jump, his unit executed a masterful plan that befuddled the Crimson Tide offense into playing one-dimensionally.

Speaking on a conference call on Wednesday, head coach Jim Harbaugh had no shortage of praise for Minter and the job he and his unit did. It was so good that Harbaugh considered Minter worthy of a game ball from the win.

“Yeah, phenomenal,” Harbaugh said. “The job that — game ball, guardian of victory, I’d give one to Jesse Minter. The coaching in the game, the play calling. Sherrone Moore, same thing. The coaching, the play calling, the pressure moments. I mean the pressure moments, the calls they made, the rest of their lives they can go back and go ‘Man, I did it. In some of the most high-pressure moments.'”

Michigan held Alabama to 288 yards, one of the lowest total outputs by the Crimson Tide in years. On the ground, the Crimson Tide managed to find some consistent success, using quarterback Jalen Milroe and extra blockers to change the math and go for 4.0 yards per carry for 172 total yards and a pair of touchdowns. But that was about the only offensive success for Alabama because passing downs quickly became a nightmare.

Michigan went to halftime with five sacks and finished the game with six, mostly by virtue of Alabama passing less in the second half. Milroe went 16-of-23 for 116 yards in the game and rarely had time to read out passing looks before getting flushed from the pocket and/or sacked by one of the five Michigan players who finished with a sack.

Against a quarterback that had been devastating defenses with both his arm and legs and an offense that wants to punish defenses downfield, Michigan looked to be the far superior unit, destroying pass protection and dismantling any hope the Alabama offense had of functioning as desired with the full call sheet at hand.

And for that, Harbaugh had to tip his cap to Minter for such a masterful showing on the biggest stage.

“It’s just a tip of the cap, really. And we know that we’re so confident in those two play callers as an entire coaching staff and an entire team,” Harbaugh said.