Michigan Wolverines Hold Off Alabama in ReliaQuest Bowl Upset
Michigan Wolverines Hold Off Alabamain ReliaQuest Bowl Upset
By Joey Johnston
Just when the Michigan Wolverinestook early control of Tuesday's ReliaQuest Bowl, a torrential rainstorm hitRaymond James Stadium, making for treacherous footing and dousing the spiritedcrowd of fans.
It didn't last long. The sun returned.The weather through most of the game was mild and comfortable.
But Alabama was still swamped.
Fast-finishing Michigan put theexclamation point on its season by defeating the Crimson Tide 19-13 for one ofthe biggest upsets in the bowl's 39-game history. Alabama (9-4), the firstprogram out in the new 12-team College Football Playoff, was a 16-1/2 pointfavorite. The Crimson Tide's streak of consecutive seasons with double-digitvictories ended at 16.
"We're going to celebrate thisone,'' said first-year Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, whose 8-5 Wolverinesdidn't defend their national championship, but completed their up-and-downseason with monumental wins against Ohio State and Alabama. "We've got a happyflight coming up, so we're going to celebrate this one.''
Michigan's celebration beganearly. When the monsoon commenced and nearly everyone fled for cover, theWolverine players acted like hyperactive kids at the park, jumping around andwildly waving their arms to encourage the crowd.
"The coolest part of that was itstarted to rain and the boys went crazy,'' Moore said. "It's like a party. Iwas like, 'What's going on?' They love stuff like that. They love adverseenvironments that people don't expect, but they enjoy that. It was awesome towatch our guys.''
Meanwhile, the mood was a bit moremelancholy in the Alabama locker room. But first-year Tide coach Kalen DeBoer,who stepped in for the retiring legend Nick Saban, said it was a learningexperience that he hopes will pay off next season.
"We've got to take the things thathappened in this game and learn from them,'' DeBoer said. "We've got to makesure those mistakes don't hurt us a year from now. I don't care if it'sturnovers or penalties. It's everything.
"To me, it's a success (thisseason) if we move forward and we take advantage of the lessons. We're going tolearn from those lessons, move forward and be better next year because of it.''
Michigan, which lost startingquarterback Davis Warren to an lower-body injury in the third quarter, managedjust 190 total yards. But the Wolverines' ball possession (more than 38minutes) was clutch. And the biggest contributor to that was running backJordan Marshall, the game's Most Valuable Player, who had 100 yards in 23carries.
"I was just excited to get outthere and play ball,'' said Marshall, a true freshman with only eightregular-season carries who stepped in because Michigan's two leading rushers,Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, did not play. "That's what I've wanted allyear. I've been waiting my turn. When my name gets called, I just want to bethe most prepared and there's no drop-off.
"Coach (Tony) Alford (runningbacks coach) told me before the game, 'You're going to win MVP of this game.' Ilike to picture myself making plays, picture myself running down the field andpicture myself winning MVP. No matter what, you want to play like the MVP andplay like the MVP in your heart.''
The Wolverines built a 16-0 leadmostly by taking advantage of Alabama turnovers.
Michigan went up 3-0 on DominicZvada's 45-yard field goal after Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was sacked onfourth down during the game's opening drive.
When the nasty weather invaded, itprompted a flurry of Alabama mistakes.
On the first play of Alabama'ssecond possession, Milroe mishandled a shotgun snap and Michigan recovered atthe Tide 19-yard line. The Wolverines stalled and settled for Zvada's 30-yardfield goal.
On Alabama's third possession,there was more trouble. Milroe's short pass attempt was tipped and interceptedby Wesley Walker. Three plays later, on third-and-7, Warren hit Frederick Moorefor a 13-yard touchdown and the Wolverines led 13-0.
The Alabama nightmares weren'tover.
On first play of Alabama's fourthpossession, Milroe was stripped on a sack by Aamir Hall at the Tide 11. Again,Michigan stalled and had to settle for Zvada's 21-yard field goal.
Part of Moore's pregame game planwas demanding a plus-two turnover margin for the game. But in the first quarteralone, Michigan turnover margin was plus-three.
"They're going, 'We're plus-threeright now,' so we've got a chance to win this game,'' Moore said. "We're goingto go win this game now.''
Still, there was the lingeringfear that Michigan hadn't done enough with the turnovers. And sure enough,Alabama charged back.
Trailing 16-7 and nearinghalftime, Alabama got a 41-yard run from Milroe, then a 40-yard pass to GermieBernard that set up Graham Nicholson's 24-yard field goal to make it 16-10.
Michigan didn't do much to pad itslead in the second half, but its defense prevented Alabama from claiming themomentum. The teams traded fourth-quarter field goals - Michigan's Zvada hitfrom 37, while Alabama's Nicholson converted a 51-yarder with 4:38 remaining.
The Tide got a final possessionand were positioned to win it. But after reaching the Michigan 15-yard line onMilroe's 25-yard pass to Jam Miller at the two-minute time out, Milroe had fourconsecutive incompletions.
Milroe refused to blame theweather on Alabama's first-quarter woes, saying he and his teammates needed toexecute and block out such external elements. Michigan's opportunistic defensemight have been a bigger factor, even though the Wolverines were withoutstalwart linemen Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, along with cornerback WillJohnson.
"Our defense was outstanding,''Moore said. "You're talking about one of the most explosive people in collegefootball in Jalen Milroe. He can hurt you with his legs. He can hurt you withhis arm. I thought they did a really good job of funneling him in the pocketand making it uncomfortable for him and hitting him.
"I think we've got a great cultureand great kids. No one person wins a game. No one person, no two people It's ateam. It's always going to be a team sport and if you look at it differently,you've got issues. We're always going to look at it as a team sport and be thebest team we can be, whoever is out on the field.''
And regardless of the weatherconditions.
"When you live in Michigan, you gothrough every season, so snow, rain, sleet it can happen in one day,'' Mooresaid. "Our guys just don't get bothered by anything. We just keep it going.
"So it could be rain, could besleet, could be whatever it is, sunshine, super hot. Our guys don't really careabout the weather or conditions. We just adjust to whatever it is.''
The ReliaQuest Bowl's cloudsfinally parted on Tuesday.
And the sun shined on Michiganfootball.