Michigan stops Alabama in OT at Rose Bowl to reach CFP title game

PASADENA, Calif. — Top-seeded Michigan outscored No. 4 Alabama in a 27-20 overtime victory at the Rose Bowl on Monday that gave the Wolverines their first-ever appearance in the game of the College Football Playoff national championship.

Blake Corum rushed for a 17-yard touchdown on the second overtime play and Michigan's defense ended only the second overtime game of the 110th edition of the Rose Bowl when Alabama quarterback , Jalen Milroe, was roundly stopped while trying to sneak through the middle of the fourth. down from Michigan 3.

For most of the past 15 years, Nick Saban's Alabama teams represented not only the model of college football, but also the most physically dominant entity in the sport. But in a season in which the Tide were forced to constantly survive rather than impose their will, Michigan (14-0) proved to be their final game.

“Glorious. It was glorious,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It was a great football game.”

Receiver Roman Wilson had a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:34 left in regulation for the Wolverines, who had not scored in the second half before this 75-yard drive led by quarterback JJ McCarthy.

McCarthy passed for 221 yards and three touchdowns, earning him the Offensive Player of the Game award. Milroe passed for 116 yards and rushed for 63 for the Tide, whose 11-game winning streak ended.

Jase McClellan ran for 87 yards and two touchdowns for Alabama (12-2), which narrowly missed the chance to play for Saban's seventh national title at the school. The Tide led 20-13 thanks to Will Reichard's 52-yard field goal with 4:41 left, but their defense couldn't hold on to the lead.

Corum made quick work of overtime by running 8 yards on the first play, then followed it up with a 17-yard sprint that gave him his 26th touchdown of the season, tying the school record.

“Everything I see from Blake on a daily basis, everything Blake is — when everyone is tired, when it’s overtime, he’ll be that guy that shows up,” McCarthy said. “Just like he does in the sprints when we run them in the offseason. It wasn't new to me – it was just amazing for the world to see.”

All Michigan needed then was a stop and, as he had done for most of the game, the Wolverines' forward sealed the result by invading the Tide backfield and stopping Milroe before the line. goal on fourth and goal from 3 yards. double.

The go-ahead stop sent Michigan's Rose Bowl crowd into pandemonium and the team below rushed the field.

“You just have to see the way our defense practiced. It's always 11-on-1. It's never 1-on-11. That's how we went out there and played, made those stops ” Michigan linebacker Junior Colson said. “We trust the guys next to us. We're brothers, you know. Like coach said, it's a big glue. We trust each other. We know we have to go out there and make our plays .”

Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter acknowledged that the program's infamously difficult 9-on-7 tackling drills are “definitely” done during times like the end of this Rose Bowl.

“You trust your players and their coaching, and when the game is on the line, you let them play fast and don't think too much about it,” Minter said. “The game comes down to the last play. We're chasing it and that's what we're capable of doing. We're very proud of our guys for this win.

The stop was emblematic of Michigan's physical dominance throughout the game, which showed during the first half. The Wolverines' defensive line turned the Alabama backfield into their playground, limiting the Tide's running game to 43 yards in the first half (116 passing yards in the entire game), stifling their line offensive and sacking Milroe five times.

But things started to go sideways for the Wolverines in the second half. McClellan put the Tide ahead 17-13 with a 3-yard touchdown run on the second snap of the fourth quarter. Michigan's James Turner missed a 49-yard field goal attempt after Milroe fumbled near midfield on Alabama's next drive, and the Tide went up by seven on Reichard's second field goal.

Michigan finally began to move forward with its season on the line, starting with Corum receiving a 27-yard reception at midfield with 3:10 left. After Wilson moved the Wolverines to the Alabama 5 with a 29-yard reception, he opened wide for his 4-yard touchdown run with 1:34 left.

In what was a comeback game that included 13 punts, eight fumbles (only two of them lost), a missed extra point and numerous special teams miscues, every point, every snap and every error been amplified. And in the end, it was Harbaugh's team — after two straight losing seasons in the CFP semifinals — that did enough to keep its undefeated season and chance at the program's first title since the 1997 season.

The Wolverines' decisive playoff victory comes amid a deeply messy season marked by two three-game suspensions for Harbaugh — the first issued preemptively by the school amid an investigation into possible recruiting violations , and the second mandated by the Big Ten for allegations. sign stealing and in-person scouting.

Harbaugh's players said the turmoil made them a better, more cohesive team. They needed all that cohesion against the Tide, who were just a few defensive stops away from their seventh trip to the playoff final.

“Everything the team has been through has almost been an unfair advantage,” Harbaugh said. “We don't worry about what people say anymore. Don't worry about everything that happens. We just know we're going to get through this.”

Michigan awaits the winner of Monday night's Sugar Bowl semifinal between No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Texas. The College Football Playoff championship game is Jan. 8 in Houston.

“This is what it means to these guys, to our players the most,” Harbaugh said when asked what this moment means to him and what it would mean to win the national championship. “For them, to be champions. For their parents, for their son to be champion. For their brothers and sisters, their grandparents. For our coaches. For my children, for a father to be champion. Then my parents.

“Just these people feeling what it is…my ecstatic joy goes to our players, our coaches, our fans and our families. May they experience that joy of being a champion.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.