Michigan 19, Alabama 16.

[klondike]

So now Alabama joins Ohio State as UM's beeeiich 💯

[Jeff Buchanan]

I remain puzzled by the fact that in 2024, two elite team coaches, Day and DeBore, get dragged into a slug fest with M by Michigan's approach to the game of football. Neither of M's last two elite opponents were very good at it. In both these games the deciding factor was that Moore and staff controlled the character of the game. In the stands, which has a different feel to watching the game unfold than watching it on TV, I felt confident that Moore and staff knew exactly what they were doing. Wink, once again, proved he was a master of putting his players in spots where they could excel. That M did control the character of the game had a lot to do with Wink and his assistants out-coaching Alabama's entire defensive coaching staff.

You could here M fans around me groaning in disappointment every time Warren or Orji would hand the ball off to Marshall or Hall or when you'd here the Bama fans on the opposite side of the stadium roar when Alabama did manage a big play against Wink's otherwise stellar schemes. But defending against a back like Jordan Marshall and the big bodies on the OL involved in the blocking, over and over, can wring the will out of the best defenders.

So will repeatedly hitting the QB and mauling an opponents OL. Hitting like that wears them out, makes them tentative, likely fearing the next big hit. That was especially true of Milroe who never recovered his confidence to make big plays with his arm or legs after his three 1st quarter miscues. By my count he managed just 4 and they only netted the Tide 13 points.

In Moore's post game he talked about the physicality of both teams judged by the audible popping of pads heard on the sideline. Moore doesn't add stuff like this in post games but, in my view, which was good from where I sat, M beat the crap out of Alabama in the trenches and with every hit to Milroe and his NFL ready WRs that M delivered. Moore did say that in bowl prep, the team did talk about being ultra-physical. They delivered.

[klondike]

I was there. In an earl soaking rain that turned into a sun filled game contest. Three, 2 forced, unexpected Milroe errors put M up early 13 - 0. The rain cleared and Moore rode that score calling a tactically smart, if not on the edge of disaster, game that fsns hate.

Wink crafted and the players executed, another great defense that produced 5 sacks and kept the Tide bottled up save 4 big plays that only produced 13 points and this is a Tide team that whined about getting shut out of the CFP.

Orgi is not a QB. After Warren went out and Orgi had but one good read and run then an interception, I was hoping for Jayden Davis to go in. Stubbornly, Moore failed to give him a try. QB competition is going to be brutal but will produce a starter by the best of them. The OL will need seasoning. They didn't look great but Warren shouldn't be holding the ball as long as he did. Short passes to the edge were good play calls from Casulsa But Alabama's edge sealing is high end.

The 2025 defense is ggoing be stout. This wasn't Alabama's best OL ,but still they got mauled. What the Tide did have ggoing for them was quality LB and S play v. The run. New kid on the block, Jordan Marshall, still ran for 100 at a 4.2 ypc. His running was a big factor in aiding Moore to burn clock and play the ta tically correct game that he did.

2025 will bring a damn good squad to the field. I'm looking forward to it, as early in the 22024season? I was done. What a fantastic win.

Amazing: the Maze&Blue jumped to a 16-0 lead early because of the weather and Bama' TO's.

An amazing stat: the 4 DRIVES UM had in the first quarter got them 2 td's and 2 fg's.

In those drives they garnered 43 yards on 18 plays! Talk about getting gifts! And they ended the game with 55 rushes for 111 yards!

Is this Tressel ball on crack?

[lineygoblue]

Its was Michigan taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them. Had the NC team been given those opportunities, Bama would have found themselves down by about 28-0. This team managed to get 16.

This season is finally over, and I'd say that the sum total is that they over-achieved quite well. Two very improbable wins to end it all, a couple games where they were completely outclassed (Texas, Oregon), and some that they lost but had opportunities to win. (Illinois, Indiana) Washington wasn't exactly a blowout, but was an ugly loss.

All this without a top notch QB, although I'll give props to Davis Warren who absolutely sucked at the beginning, but kept rallying back to give everything he had. He certainly out performed guys like John O'Korn and Brandon Peters. Its not saying much, but at least he was better than some.

What is exciting for me is how Michigan has performed in the portal, and also in recruiting. One of the top recruiting classes in the country, and I think some are saying they have the 3rd ranked portal class. At one point the 2025 season was looking like a return to the mid-20Teens, but now its looking like its a successful rebuild. Excuse my maize and blue tinted glasses, but I think things look pretty solid for 2025. The schedule maker had some mercy on us, so its a manageable schedule that should have Michigan in the thick of the conference race.

So I think maybe a spring game visit is in the offing. As long as its not 35 degrees in April. Me and about a million other M fans want to get a look at Underwood.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Found this in one of my news feeds. WHAT WAS THAT? LISTLESS ALABAMA EMBARRASSES ITSELF IN RELIAQUEST BOWL LOSS TO MICHIGAN

Let's get right to the point. Like OSU and it's coaches, players and fans making excuses for their loss to Michigan, another elite team, Alabama, got pantsed and had their lunch money stolen from them yesterday in the ReliaQuest bowl. Post game excuses surface but the reality is that both of these elite teams are avoiding the obvious conclusion that these losers got out played, out coached and out physicaled by Michigan. The better team on both days. Post game comments by both Day and DeBoer gave little credit to Michigan's hobbled offense that did just enough behind a stifling defense and physicality that dictated the character of the game and gave M the win in both contests.

In all of 2023's CFB season contests that led to an NC and the first and last two contests of the 2024 season, Michigan proved winning CFB games are less about talent and more about team culture, unity, toughness and desire to win - a factor that, for the most part, can't be quantified by fancy stats or PFF grades. I think that as M moves forward in 2025, we'll continue to hear the same lame excuses from next season's teams that M defeats.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/kalen-deboer-alabama-embarrasses-itself-in-reliaquest-bowl-loss-to-michigan/

[lineygoblue]

As far as Alabama fans bellyaching, they are more spoiled than Ohio State fans. They had the very good fortune to get Nick Saban just as he was coming into his coaching greatness. His career post Dolphins wasn't worth a plug nickel, but given the natural attraction of the Alabama program, and his coaching prowess, he blossomed into one of the best college coaches ever. Bama fans rode that bandwagon for nearly two decades, and now when that standard isn't met, they gripe. Welcome back to real college football Bama fans.

And if AlabamAlum is looking in, this isn't a knock on you. Its just an observation and an opinion.