Kris Jenkins Jr. shares emotional moment with his mother after Rose Bowl win
As Kris Jenkins Jr. sat on one of the goal lines of the Rose Bowl after Michigan beat Alabama in overtime, 27-20, to advance to the national championship, he was subject to a friendly ambush. His mom, Shay DeLotch, had snuck up behind him and hugged him from behind to share a special moment with her son.
Jenkins, who was enjoying the postgame scene with fellow defensive lineman Cam Goode, listened intently as his mother explained how proud she was. He joked she was more emotional about the game than he was.
“You gone cry more than me,” Jenkins said in the video capture by Yahoo Sports.
“Because I know how hard you worked for this,” DeLotch said through tears. “It’s not just a game. I’m crying about a stupid football game because I’m so proud of you. You worked for it so hard. People don’t get it. They don’t know. They think it’s easy, they talk about it from the sidelines. They don’t know the work you put in. I’m so proud of you. I love you so much. And I’m sorry, I just love you so much, I’m so proud of you. Do you understand?”
Jenkins, who finished with one of Michigan’s six sacks and an additional tackle, replied with a good natured chuckle.
“Yes, yes, trust me I understand,” Jenkins said.
“Do you understand what you’ve done? The work you’ve put into it, you know?” DeLotch said
“Yeah,” Jenkins said. “We still got one more job to do.”
Eventually, DeLotch injected some humor — humor that her son exhibits often — into the exchange.
“And you’re going to do that job very well. I’m not concerned about that. I don’t even like football and I’m crying, I hate it, but I’m so proud of you,” DeLotch said, chuckling along with the happy tears.
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Jenkins had a joking reply, noting that his mom didn’t even know the full slate of rules yet.
“I was going to say, I ain’t even teach you what overtime was yet,” Jenkins said.
The Rose Bowl was a popular watch on Monday night
Be it iconic uniforms, the storied history, the classic location, the perfect weather, the compelling football, the characters or the massive stakes, the Rose Bowl semifinal matchup of the College Football Playoff between Alabama and Michigan had all the makings of a ratings behemoth. And the granddaddy of the all delivered a massive ratings number.
The Rose Bowl audience peaked at 32.8 million viewers, according to ESPN, the highest of any CFP semifinal. The final rating figure came in at 27.2 million viewers, making it the most-viewed semifinal game since the first year of the CFP.
Beyond that, it was the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event in five years and ranked as a Top 10 cable telecast all-time, per ESPN.
While it didn’t pull nearly as big of a number, the Sugar Bowl matchup between Texas and Washington in the late semifinal was one of the most-watched non-NFL sporting events in the last year and one of the top-rated Sugar Bowls since 2004. All told, 18.4 million viewers tuned in with a peak of 24.5 million.