Best and worst from Michigan's ReliaQuest Bowl win over Alabama

TAMPA, Fla. — Michigan Wolverines football took down No. 11 Alabama, 19-13, Tuesday afternoon in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Here are the best and worst from Raymond James Stadium.

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Best start imagineable

Michigan couldn’t have drawn up a better start. The Wolverines forced a turnover on downs, then three turnovers on Alabama’s first four drives, going up 16-0 only 13 minutes into the game despite having just 43 total yards.

Michigan went 4-for-4 in the red zone (3 field goals, 1 touchdown), starting three-straight drives inside the Alabama 20 in the first quarter.

Biggest party

Michigan’s flurry of early game punches coincided with — and likely were helped by — pockets of pouring rain (despite the forecast calling for only a 10-percent chance of precipitation this morning).

Quarterback Jalen Milroe dropped a snap that was recovered by junior EDGE Derrick Moore, threw an interception to graduate safety Wesley Walker and had the ball jarred loose by graduate cornerback Aamir Hall, picked up by sophomore EDGE Cameron Brandt.

Michigan has embraced the elements incredibly well in recent seasons, including bad weather and hostile road environments. The Wolverines were extra fired up on the sideline as the rain fell, and harnessed the momentum.

“The coolest part of that was it started to rain, and the boys went crazy,” head coach Sherrone Moore said. “It was like a party. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ They love stuff like that. They love adverse environments that people don’t expect, but we enjoy that.”

Applying pressure

Michigan sacked Milroe 6 times in last year’s Rose Bowl, and got to him 5 times in the ReliaQuest Bowl. He lost 53 yards on those negative plays, with the Wolverines’ defensive line and blitzers continually getting home. Alabama also rushed for a season-low 68 yards — 121 not including sacks.

That was a Michigan defensive line, too, that was playing without three starters in junior defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham and senior EDGE Josaiah Stewart.

Sophomore tackles Enow Etta and Trey Pierce along with senior Ike Iwunnah stepped into much bigger roles, and held up against a nearly full-strength Alabama offensive line that was considered one of the better units in the SEC.

Incredible season stat

Michigan was 5-5 at one point this season and certainly wishes the year went differently. But the Wolverines did find a way to come away with some big victories despite having an anemic offense.

The stat of the season: Michigan was outgained in wins over five Power Four opponents — USC, Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State and Alabama.

The Wolverines leaned on their defense and kicking game while attempting to win the time of possession and field position battles. Kudos to Moore and his staff for piecing this together and salvaging what could’ve been a disastrous season.

Incredible game stat

Junior quarterback Alex Orji replaced senior Davis Warren, who went down with a leg injury early in the third quarter. Michigan is already a relatively one-dimensional offense but became even more that way with Orji in the game, throwing on only three of the final 26 offensive plays.

The quarterback who played the majority of the second half went 2-of-3 passing for 2 yards with an interception, and Michigan still beat the No. 11 team in the country without 10 starters.

MVP

The flip side of the disappointment that comes with not being able to watch the 10 Michigan starters who didn’t suit up for the game is the opportunity afforded for younger players like freshman running back Jordan Marshall, who made his first career start.

Marshall rushed 23 times for 100 yards in a coming out party that earned him ReliaQuest Bowl MVP honors and put him on the national map.

Thirteen of his 23 rushes went for 3 yards or fewer, but frankly there wasn’t much room to run, and he made the most out of those carries. But as the game went on, after Michigan softened up the defense with “body blows,” the creases got a bit bigger, and he took advantage.

Marshall’s biggest run was that one the Wolverines seem to get in big moments — and previously this season were created by graduate Kalel Mullings. This time, Marshall broke tackles on the way to a 24-yard gain that moved Michigan to the 36-yard line, setting up a field goal from junior kicker Dominic Zvada, who scored 13 of the team’s 19 points.

Sweet redemption

Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale saw his unit allow 28 first-half points against Oregon in early November. Since then, though, it’s been lights out, save for a couple plays at Indiana, a top-10 team that made the playoff.

Michigan has held its last four opponents to 260 yards or fewer: Indiana (246), Northwestern (127), Ohio State (252) and Alabama (260). The Wolverines allowed 12.3 points per game in that stretch.

While it would be hard to top the performance in the 13-10 win over Ohio State in Columbus, this was close to as impressive. Michigan was without its top players, particularly along the defensive line, which was the strength of the unit, and still beat an Alabama offense that had most of its horses.

The Crimson Tide had just two drives that lasted longer than 42 yards. They turned the ball over on downs three times, and gave it away three times.

Doesn’t miss

Zvada is one of the most reliable players in the country, and he showed that again Tuesday. He made 45-, 30-, 21- and 37-yard field goals, providing scoring when Michigan needed it.

Zvada, who announced he’s returning to Michigan for next season, finished the campaign 21-of-22 on field goals with a 56-yard long. Seven came from 50-plus yards.

Most dicey sequence

With 37 seconds to go in the first half and Alabama facing a third-and-inches from its own 11-yard line, Moore called timeout even though it appeared the Crimson Tide was intent on running out the clock on the half. It was an aggressive move from a team that had played the game pretty conservatively to that point — and understandably so.

Alabama came out of the timeout, and Milroe ran for 41 yards, though, then completed a pass for 40. The Michigan defense stood tall in the red zone, holding them to three points, but any score was big in this one. It also stymied the momentum that the Wolverines had, but Michigan was able to recover and pull out the win.

Best catch

Michigan sophomore wide receiver Fredrick Moore stepped up with an increased role, making 3 catches for 37 yards and a touchdown and rushing twice for 8 yards.

His touchdown catch came on a fade route on third-and-8, and Michigan scoring seven there instead of three was a huge difference in how the game played out.

TD FREDRICK MOORE! pic.twitter.com/4PtMtblheq

— uofmcoverage (@uofmcoverage) December 31, 2024

What this game was about

Every bowl season, the biggest talking points surround which team ‘wants to be there more’ and who has the most ‘opt-outs.’ But Michigan didn’t allow the postgame conversation to be about those things. It wrote its own story, and it was about the guys that did suit up, that did go to battle and score the program’s 1,012th victory.

There were a lot of encouraging signs for the future, too, since the majority of Michigan players who had key roles will return next season.

Bookend wins and ringing in the new year

Michigan beat Alabama Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. Wolverine fans dreamed of beating SEC powers like the Crimson Tide for years and years, and now they did it twice in the same year!

Michigan rings in the new year with more confetti. This kind may not be as meaningful as the pieces that fell in Pasadena in January, but still is not meaningless.