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Podcast: Most impressive aspects of Rose Bowl win, 'Team 144' legacy, Michigan vs. Washington thoughts

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie01/04/24

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Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy has a decision to make on his future. (Dominick Sokotoff / TheWolverine.com)

On this episode of TheWolverine.com podcast, Clayton Sayfie and Anthony Broome discuss the most impressive aspects of Michigan Wolverines football‘s 27-20 overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal and the legacy of ‘Team 144,’ before giving some early thoughts on Washington.

Watch this episode in the video player above or on our YouTube channel. Listen in the embed below or search ‘The Wolverine’ wherever you get your podcasts.

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The hosts discussed the most impressive areas of Michigan’s victory over Alabama, and Broome actually pointed to an encouraging sign from that game for the next one against Washington.

“When you talk about what it’s going to take to beat a team with an explosive passing offense like Washington, that we just watched Michigan’s secondary play its best game of the year is extremely encouraging heading into that game Monday night.”

“No doubt,” Sayfie chimed in. “It is going to be different, partly because Washington’s offensive line is better than Alabama’s. They won the Joe Moore Award, so the pressure may not be there as much. They may have to cover longer, and Washington has better receivers.

“But rewatching the game, the secondary stands out and the defensive line gets a ton of credit — deservedly so. I mean, 6 sacks and a bunch of negative plays and a bunch of stops for like 0– and 1-yard gains, as well, which are underrated. I thought that was great. But the secondary … the way [Michigan junior safety] Rod Moore played with some of the open-field tackles he made, defending Kendrick Law on the deep ball there, the way he positioned himself, absolutely blanketed him in coverage … just the leverage this Michigan defense played with was fantastic. [Graduate cornerback] Josh Wallace was great. The tackles were great — made really strong tackles. The safeties — you lose [senior] Makari Paige there in the second half, and [graduate] Quinten Johnson makes a huge play, jarring the ball loose on Jalen Milroe. [Sophomore] Keon Sabb comes in — he only had 5 snaps, but it felt like he was around the ball every time he was in there.”

Sayfie also pointed to Michigan’s offensive game plan as something that stood out.

“The way Michigan mixed things up offensively, when it came to breaking tendency,” Sayfie began. “You had a couple gadget plays when you needed them. The throw-back, a great catch by [junior quarterback] J.J. McCarthy, was great. But I thought Sherrone Moore and Jim Harbaugh and the whole offensive staff put these guys in great positions.

“One of the things they did was they used two tight ends less. I think Alabama was prepared to face [senior] AJ Barner and [sophomore] Colston Loveland, but Michigan goes with a little bit more 11 personnel and a little bit more matchups. We had a conversation a month, month and a half ago, how Sherrone Moore is so good — and seems better than maybe the coordinators in the past — at getting Michigan players in favorable matchups. And that’s what they did in this game. It was Michigan’s slot receivers and running backs against Alabama’s linebackers.”

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