Five Takeaways from Alabama's Gut-Wrenching ReliaQuest Bowl Loss to Michigan

After committing three very early turnovers in the ReliaQuest Bowl, the Crimson Tide offense never got going despite the defense's stout effort.

Michigan Football vs. Alabama - ReliaQuest Bowl / Obtained from Michigan Athletics

No. 11 Alabama football ended its season with a 9-4 record, as the final game on Tuesday resulted in a gut-wrenching 19-13 loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa.

After committing three very early turnovers, the Crimson Tide offense never got going despite the defense's stout effort.

There's so much to dissect from this matchup at Raymond James Stadium. Here are five takeaways:

Michigan Defense Pours Over Alabama Offense Immediately

There's no need to sugarcoat it. Alabama's offense could not have started the ReliaQuest Bowl much worse than it did. A massive wave of rain poured onto the field of Raymond James Stadium moments after kickoff and quarterback Jalen Milroe and the Tide went in the wrong direction immediately.

After being sacked on a fourth-down attempt near midfield, the Crimson Tide's next three possessions resulted in turnovers. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe had his name attached to all three as he threw an interception once and fumbled twice, including a strip sack. Fans thought that Milroe should've been benched after the third turnover, but Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer didn't think so.

"What we needed with him and his mobility added to the run game," DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. "I felt like that was the swap right there. The interception early, you want, a lot of those incompletions happened in down and distances that weren't favorable or backs to the wall and have to throw the ball at the end of the first half and at the end of the second here so I know that gets away from you from a completion percentage. But I thought there were a lot of good plays too. I saw the fighter. The fight in his eyes. As long as I see that, I want to hang with the guys that this program means a lot to."

Sometimes teams will drive a bit before turning the ball over, but Alabama had zero momentum on offense early as it totaled -2 yards in the first quarter, averaging -0.1 yards per play. Much of this stemmed from the two sacks and tackles for loss by Michigan as the Tide's offensive line really struggled to keep the Wolverines pass-rush in front of them.

None of Alabama's offensive line opted out for this game but three defensive linemen did for Michigan, including potential top-5 NFL Draft pick Mason Graham, plus Kenneth Grant and Josaiah Stewart, who are both candidates to be selected on Day 1.

"Obviously we dug ourselves in a hole in the first quarter," DeBoer said. "The turnovers gave them great field position."

Crimson Tide Defense Bails Out Offense Throughout

Fortunately for the offense, Alabama's defense held strong in the first half, allowing 16 points despite each of Michigan's first-quarter drives starting in plus territory. Linebacker Jihaad Campbell was a big reason for keeping the Tide in the game early as he logged five tackles in the first quarter and 10 by halftime. However, he went down with an upper extremity injury about midway through the third quarter and was later seen on the sideline without pads and had a wrapped up shoulder.

"I thought our defense did a great job most of those drives holding them to field goals, gave us a chance," DeBoer said.

Perhaps the craziest stat of the day came in the total yards category, as the Wolverines' 190 were the fewest in ReliaQuest Bowl history. A tremendous feat for the Crimson Tide defense, but the early turnovers made it all for none.

Another interesting stat stemming from Alabama's defense was that Michigan's longest drive of the game was 47 yards, which ended in a 37-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Prior to that, here is the yardage for every Michigan drive: 17, 7, 16, 3, 24, 4, 34, -1, 15, 8 and 9 (ended in an interception by Alabama soon-to-be sophomore cornerback Zabien Brown). Not one Michigan possession went over 10 minutes.

Alabama's Offense Never Rises With Sun

Shortly after Michigan notched its 16th point, the rain stopped and the sun started to beam over Raymond James Stadium. But the Crimson Tide offense still couldn't wake up alongside the new conditions.

The Crimson Tide scored its first points of the game with four minutes remaining in the first half via a 25-yard touchdown pass from Milroe to tight end Robbie Ouzts. Alabama went 71 yards on just four plays, including a 25-yard run by wide receiver Rico Scott. This was a tremendous drive at the time as the Tide totaled just two yards in the 22 plays before.

As previoisly stated, a momentum shift was somewhat expected after the touchdown and that was reinforced after Graham Nicholson hit a 51-yard field goal to make it a six-point game right before halftime. However, this was not the case as another Nicholson field goal late in the fourth quarter was Alabama's only other points.

Milroe finished the game completing 16-of-32 pass attempts for 192 yards, one touchdown, one interception and two fumbles. The Tide totaled 260 yards of offense, and even though it was 70 more than Michigan, the early turnovers and lack of moving the ball consistently downfield made a difference in the end.

Alabama Abandons Run Game

This has been a somewhat common takeaway throughout the season, but the Tide really could've spent more time on the ground due to the lack of another skill position. Due to transfers and injuries, Alabama came into this game with four healthy wide receivers, not including cornerback Jaylen Mbakwe, who is trending toward making the switch for his sophomore season. Of these healthy wide receivers, only Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard had logged more than five receptions throughout the season coming into Tuesday.

Of course, Alabama lost impactful running back Justice Haynes to the transfer portal, and he eventually committed to Michigan, but the ground game should've still been in effect against the Wolverines. Running back Jam Miller struggled with 10 carries for 27 yards but the sample size is obviously a bit small, especially since the air attack wasn't working. Backup running back Richard Young is expected to fill Haynes' role next season but we only got a very light taste of two carries for six yards.

"I think they're one of the top five rushing defenses," DeBoer said when asked why the running backs were only given 12 carries. "I know there's personnel on both teams that were different from what you would see in the regular season, both us and them. But I think there was certainly part of our game plan that we thought we needed to spit the ball out and get the ball in the right guy's hands. We tried to do that, whether it was slipping or incomplete passes some plays didn't get executed the way you practiced them for the last two or three weeks."

Milroe also couldn't get anything going on the ground as he rushed for seven yards on 16 carries (includes numbers from being sacked five times). His somewhat frequent horizontal running style simply did not work against Michigan as many of his carries were for no gain. However, he did break off a 41-yard run late in the second quarter.

Does Kalen DeBoer Believe His First Season Was a Success?

In its first season without legendary former Alabama head coach and seven-time national champion (six at Alabama) Nick Saban since 2006, The Crimson Tide broke its 16-year streak of 10-plus wins, lost to two unranked teams in the regular season, lost a bowl game to another unranked team and missed the College Football Playoff under its inaugural 12-team format.

However, DeBoer and company had three wins against teams ranked in the CFP Top 25 Poll, including a thrilling victory over then-No. 1 and now-No. 2 Georgia, four wins against teams ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll and six of the Tide's eight FBS wins have come against bowl-eligible teams.

Additionally, DeBoer's 9-4 record is the fourth-best inaugural season for an Alabama head coach, as he beat out Saban (7-6) and Paul W. Bear Bryant's (5-4-1) among others. That said, DeBoer initially had a ton more talent to work with than the two legendary coaches.

So, does DeBoer think this season was a success? Here's the answer he gave during the ReliaQuest Bowl postgame press conference:

"I mean, every time you're in the locker room and you have something like this it's disappointing. But I think there's a lot of things that you take from it. I know that the guys that hung in there and probably played their last game in the crimson and white they wouldn't have had it any other way as far as to show the grit, to show the determination, to show the competitiveness, they stayed the course.

"There's a whole lot more I just think that really goes into the last 12 months. People see what happens on a Saturday but it's guys choosing to stay here, choosing to go from one week to the next when you're on a little bit of a rollercoaster through the middle of the season. As long as we learn from it, then to me, it can be a success moving forward.

"We're going to take all these things that happened and there's some things that happened in the game today. We've got to learn from it and make sure those mistakes don't hurt us a year from now. I don't care if it's turnovers or penalties, it's everything. To me, it's a success if we move forward and take advantage of the lessons even though we don't want to learn those lessons sometimes because they're hard. We're going to learn from those lessons, move forward and be better because of it.

"I told the guys who played their last game, you know how much I appreciate them, I know their teammates shared how much they appreciate them as well in the locker room. I know they're going to make us proud when they move onto the next level and I promised to them we're going to continue to make them with the fight and the standard of competitiveness that they instilled in this program moving forward."

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