Michigan won the Rose Bowl because it won the line of scrimmage, and was more innovative because of it. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Winner of seven national titles (six at Alabama), Nick Saban proved Monday that the anointed best at anything can have a bad day when he can least afford it.
This can be said in five hundred words, or less…maybe not.
Alabama coach Nick Saban, with all those titles and all that distinction – the most revered man in the history of college football coaching – simply got outcoached Monday by Michigan and Jim Harbaugh, and for a select group of Ohio State passionistas, here’s the bottom line. It can happen to anyone!
Over and over throughout the afternoon, Michigan was simply better than both the legend, and the current reality, of Saban and Alabama football.
They talked about how big, and how good Alabama’s offensive line was? Their running game amounted to little more than quarterback Jalen Milroe breaking contain and taking advantage of his obvious athletic ability one on one. Michigan was simply better. Alabama did rush for 157 yards, but it didn’t feel like it; and they couldn’t run it when they wanted to…needed to. It wasn’t dependable!
That offensive line also allowed six quarterback sacks. Alabama would throw for 116 yards and without a touchdown, primarily because Milroe had to run for his life all day. That’s not the Alabama (and Saban) we’d grown accustomed to.
Defensively, Alabama did an OK job in the second half…but again, Michigan’s run game and Blake Corum was good enough to allow JJ McCarthy to finish 16 for 23 and three touchdowns, passing.
How?
Michigan and Harbaugh (or offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore) did a better job of play-calling – motion, and making adjustments for which Alabama never countered.
And the irony of all this…Michigan was hardly perfect, beginning to end – fumbled punts twice that could have been disastrous, but weren’t.
Without going deeper, it came back to me over and over that Alabama, with that big line and all that talent, was playing as a mirror-image of Ohio State this year when the Buckeyes, and their big, talented offensive line, COULD NOT run the football.
Why?
Well if Eric Wolford is the offensive line coach at Alabama; and if Tommy Reese is the offense coordinator, it must at some point be recognized as the issue of trying to do the same things over and over that don’t work. I think they call it the definition of insanity. It was pointed out repeatedly throughout the game that Michigan simply did a better job of motioning and flipping players in the formation to create confusion for Alabama’s defense, and it worked. Saban later said that they shot themselves in the foot, but it wasn’t that cut and dry.
The fourth quarter touchdown to Roman Wilson was a prime example, as pointed out by Kirk Herbstreit, immediately. No one even noticed Wilson running across the formation, wide-open for the short pass from McCarthy.
The Blake Corum touchdown in overtime was another example of simply winning at the point of attack – an off-tackle run that allowed Corum to get beyond the line of scrimmage and then out-athlete the linebackers and secondary.
Finally, the play call for Milroe on the game’s final play resembled something less than you’d expect from someone as iconic as Nick Saban.
With bad snaps all afternoon, they picked the wrong time for another one, throwing the play’s timing off…but seriously, with all that war chest of experience, and athletes, and reputation for being the best, was that the best that Saban could do, even after thinking about it during two timeouts?
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For a moment I want to make this comparison to the later game between Washington and Texas.
Did anyone notice how Washington kept making Texas defend the field vertically with the passing game? How Michael Penix kept giving his receivers the opportunity to make big plays downfield?
This was in stark comparison to the Ohio State passing game of Kyle McCord flipping the ball into the flat for Marvin Harrison, Egbuka, and Fleming to catch it and try to gain eight yards. This was not bubble screens. This was the home run ball to receivers beneath the reputation of Marvin Harrison, the nation’s Biletnikoff Award winner that goes to the best of the best.
Of course, Penix had time to wait for those routes to open, and he was athletic enough to evade the rush when it did come.
Bottom line, I don’t think there’s that much difference in any of these programs. If you gave Saban a week to prepare for a rematch it might be a totally different game.
And as good as Washington was, at the end Texas was on the door step and could have won the game on the final play.
And the same can probably be said for Ryan Day and his ability on a given day to outcoach anyone. If it can happen to Saban……
What we saw Monday was that the game is won and lost at the point of attack. And throughout the season everyone questioned the offensive line play of Ohio State, and their inability to dominate with runners like Chip Trayanum (now gone to Kentucky) and TreVeyon Henderson. Which maybe reflects more on Justin Frye (offensive line coach and run coordinator), instead of Day.
Because as bad as it was last Friday against Missouri in all phases, what’s the one thing that stood out the most with the Buckeyes’ futility on offense?
And the answer isn’t quarterback.
If you’re counting…it took 904 words to say it!
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