Michigan called for controversial unnecessary roughness penalty

Late in the first quarter of Monday’s Rose Bowl, it looked like Michigan was marching as Wolverines running back Kalel Mullings took a carry for six yards for what looked like a first down. The referees, however, threw a flag — and it generated some conversation.

Fullback Max Bredeson got called for an unnecessary roughness penalty, which not only wiped away the first down, but made it 2nd and 11 for Michigan in a tie ballgame. He went to make a block on Caleb Downs, and after doing so, went back for a second effort and appeared to hit Downs in the helmet.

The call came under criticism, including from Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy.

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“Just an awful call on the Michigan fullback,” Nagy wrote on X. “Every coach in America would praise his second effort in film review. Nothing unsportsmanlike about that. That’s how you coach it.”

Alabama struck first in the Rose Bowl after a Michigan turnover when Jase McClellan made it a 7-0 ballgame. But the Wolverines struck back when J.J. McCarthy found Blake Corum for the game-tying score later in the quarter.

It’s been an interesting season, to say the least, for Jim Harbaugh and Michigan. Harbaugh found himself serving two suspensions during the year, missing six games total, but was back on the sidelines for the Big Ten Championship and will be the rest of the way. The Wolverines are playing in their third consecutive College Football Playoff, and Harbaugh reflected on the journey prior to the game.

“So many things. In a lot of ways, it has been — it has been a spiritual journey. It’s been a mission. Daily, weekly, monthly, it’s a year now. It’s on year with this team, that they’ve been on this mission. It’s been a happy mission. It’s been a joy, to watch guys make the choice to play as a team. To be unselfish. To play for each other. To give it their very best,” Harbaugh said. “As I said before, you know it when you’re on a real ball team, and that’s what our team is. Coach Schembechler talked many times about — when I was a kid heard it, heard it when I played at Michigan — the team, the team, the team.

“In so many ways, this team is the team, and couldn’t be prouder, and couldn’t be more excited to lead this team into battle in the Rose Bowl.”