It's been 'Michigan versus Everybody' all season, and the Wolverines' unity was on full display in their Rose Bowl victory over Alabama
Jim Harbaugh couldn’t stop hugging players and telling them, “I love you.”
It’s been “Michigan versus Everybody” all season, so why would Monday night at the Rose Bowl against Big Bad Alabama be any different?
United in their quest to erase the failures against Georgia and TCU in the last two College Football Playoffs, the Wolverines proved their mettle in a classic comeback overtime victory to beat the Tide 27-20 and return to the national championship game for the first time in 26 years.
It’s been a bizarre season in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines dominated offseason headlines with all sorts of drama, and then we found out about the sign-stealing scandal and second suspension for Harbaugh. Harbaugh only coached in half of the regular season games, and just days before the CFP Semifinal, news leaked about him hiring power agent Don Yee.
And yet, nothing — not Connor Stallions, not the nation’s ire, nor Harbaugh’s continued flirtation with an NFL future — has distracted Michigan’s mission to cap a special three-year run with a national championship.
The Wolverines have had a title or bust feel all season. Harbaugh openly aimed for his team to “chase perfection,” and now they’re a win away from just that. Despite all of Saban’s national championships, it was Michigan that faced all the pressure in this game. And the Wolverines proved worthy.
Almost impressively, Michigan didn’t play its best Monday. The Wolverines had critical mistakes (drops, just 2 of 11 on 3rd downs) and several backbreaking miscues (missed PAT, multiple muffed punts).
But they fought. And they always punched back.
When Alabama jumped to a 7-0 lead, Michigan immediately answered. Harbaugh, OC Sherrone Moore and DC Jesse Minter out-foxed Nick Saban & Co., for most of the second quarter, and then in the game’s final 15 minutes + overtime, the same staff made the right adjustments to propel Michigan to victory.
The Wolverines have stars in tailback Blake Corum (who has a nation’s best 25 touchdowns this season, including the game-winner in the Rose Bowl) and quarterback JJ McCarthy, but it’s a team defined by their togetherness and selflessness.
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It’s a team of future NFL guys that’s still somehow greater than the sum of its parts.
It’s guys like a 245-pound Coastal Carolina transfer linebacker Josiah Stewart blowing up a 5-star offensive tackle to stop Jalen Milroe short of the end zone on the game’s final play. Or little-used sophomore wideout Tyler Morris racing 38-yards for the first touchdown of his career. How about Roman Wilson being invisible for nearly four quarters before coming up with two of the biggest catches to tie the game late?
When it mattered the most, Michigan’s players out-executed and out-muscled Alabama.
That’s the makeup of an elite team.
Before Monday, Michigan hadn’t faced adversity on the field all year. It had dominated game control and won its first 13 games by an average of nearly four touchdowns. But all the off-the-field drama, speculation and noise created the calluses of a truly tough team.
Against the Tide, these Wolverines proved they aren’t some paper-tiger bully. They can take a punch and swung back viciously.
“It’s a togetherness. We’re so together, so connected. We were going to overcome anything inside this stadium,” Harbaugh said after the win.
For the first time all season, Michigan faced a deficit in the fourth quarter. And even then they didn’t make it easy on themselves with a botched flea-flicker and nearly fumbling the game away on special teams, but they cooly converted a 4th-and-2 with the game on the line, and out-classed Alabama from there.
“Michigan versus Everybody” has been the battle cry of the 2023 season, so as the calendar flips to 2024, it seems appropriate the New Year started that way, too.