The Alabama Crimson Tide shutout the Michigan Wolverines for 28 minutes and 26 seconds of the second half of Monday’s Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinals.
However on its next-to-last drive of regulation, Michigan rallied for an eight-play, 75-yard landing drive that tied the sport at 20 and compelled additional time, the place the Wolverines stopped the Alabama offense on fourth-and-goal to punch its ticket to the nationwide championship sport.
Listed here are the important thing takeaways from Michigan’s CFP semifinal win:
J.J. McCarthy wants one other 12 months earlier than he’s NFL prepared: Whereas McCarthy had one other strong and environment friendly sport (221 yards passing, three touchdowns, no interceptions), he didn’t actually take the sport over like a number of the different prime QBs within the nation like USC’s Caleb Williams or LSU’s Jayden Daniels would have.
McCarthy stayed composed and confirmed good mobility escaping the pocket, however he’s not the sort of game-changing sign caller most QB-needy NFL groups are searching for. He can be higher served staying at Michigan for another 12 months and actually proving he may be greater than an environment friendly sport supervisor. If he does, he may very well be a sure-fire first-round choose in 2025.
The remainder of school soccer has caught up with Nick Saban: Alabama performed in 4 of the primary 5 CFP nationwide championship video games and 6 of the primary 9. However this 12 months will mark the second straight 12 months the nationwide title sport gained’t function the Tide.
Saban was the most-feared coach and Alabama the most-feared crew within the nation from 2009 up by 2020 with six nationwide championships over that span, however the remainder of the school soccer world has clearly found out chip away at his armor as evidenced by Monday’s Rose Bowl loss and his three nationwide championship losses and since 2016.
Blake Corum has a robust case to be RB1 within the 2024 draft: Of the highest 2024 working backs who performed in bowl video games, Corum had arguably the perfect displaying of all of them. He completed with 19 carries for 83 yards and a landing, and he added two receptions for 35 yards and one other rating.
Each of his touchdowns in opposition to Alabama got here in key conditions — his first on Michigan’s second possession that answered an Alabama landing drive minutes earlier than, and his second in additional time to place the stress on the Alabama offense.
Between Corum, Trey Benson, TreVeyon Henderson and Will Shipley, Corum did probably the most to spice up his draft inventory throughout bowl season.
Michigan must cease being conservative with its second-half play calling: After two lengthy landing drives and 199 yards of whole offense (115 passing, 84 dashing) within the first half, the Wolverines mustered simply 119 yards within the second half, with 75 approaching one drive.
The stability of runs (16) versus move (13) was about as equal to what it was within the first two quarters, however Michigan had half as many dashing yards because it did within the first half and the crew took the sport out of McCarthy’s palms.
The Wolverines have performed with a sizeable second-half lead in most of their video games this 12 months, so conserving their foot on the fuel isn’t one thing they’ve needed to do typically. They gained’t get away with being gun-shy in opposition to whichever crew they face within the nationwide championship sport.
Alabama must take the reins off Jalen Milroe: Within the Tide’s largest sport of the 12 months, Milroe rushed a season-high 21 occasions however solely tried 23 passes and threw for a season-low 116 yards.
Milroe’s 69.6 completion proportion was admirable, however he solely averaged 7.25 yards per completion and he was held with no landing move for the third time in 13 video games.
Milroe is clearly gifted and has game-breaking means, however throughout a number of video games this season it’s appeared like he’s been held again by some overly cautious play calling. Milroe has an identical skillset to and proven flashes of the sort of offensive upside that a number of the prime QBs like Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix Jr., Cameron Ward and Dillon Gabriel have.
The Tide must lastly unleash him and let him carry the crew on his again.
