Notebook: Alabama Comes Up Short at the Goal Line in Season-Ending Loss

The Crimson Tide needed just three yards to keep the game alive. A bad snap led to Jalen Milroe trying to get there on his own, which he failed to do.

PASADENA, Calif. — The pro-Michigan crowd was at its loudest with the game on the line. After three consecutive timeouts, the ball was snapped to Jalen Milroe.

However, even after multiple conversations, it appears not everyone was certain about what the play call was. The ball was snapped low and Milroe tried to improvise, but it was too late. There was little separation created by the offensive line and the Crimson Tide's improbable run came to an end inside the 3-yard line.

Offensive guard Tyler Booker, along with head coach Nick Saban, believed quarterback power was the intended play, and it fell short. However, wide receiver Kobe Prentice told Nick Alvarez of AL.com that he thought it was more of an RPO play.

"We were trying to take advantage of the looks they were giving us at the end," Prentice told AL.com in the locker room. "That’s what it was. It was supposed to be a bubble [screen] coming out of the backfield by the back. A read [or choice] but, you know, stuff just kind of happened."

Perhaps the play could've worked if not for the bad snap and poor protection. It was a long night for Seth McLaughlin, who denied comment following the game.

"We called three plays," head coach Nick Saban said. "One they called time-out, one we called time-out, and the last one that didn't work. The fact that it didn't work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean? But we called time-out because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it."

"But Tommy [Rees] just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game. The ball was on the 3-yard line, which is just like a two-point play, but we didn't get it blocked so it didn't work. We didn't execute it very well and it didn't work. They pressured and we thought they would pressure, but we thought we could gap them and block them and make it work, and it didn't."

Will Reichard's Final Numbers

Kicker Will Reichard made two field goals and moved past Leigh Tiffin and into first on the Alabama all-time career field-goal list with 84 (Tiffin made 83). 

He finished as the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader with 547 career points.

Richard was 22-for-25 this season, and he made all 55 extra-point attempts, for 121 points this season.

"I think special teams did a good job tonight," Saban said. "We did a good job of controlling field position. I think both specialists did a really, really good job.

"Will made some huge kicks, what, two around 50-yard field goals."

TideBits

• This season marks the first time under Saban that Alabama has not won a national championship in the span of three years.

• Michigan improved to 14-0, making it the ninth school to win 14 or more games in the modern era — it's now in 9-12 Rose Bowl Games and 27-15-1 against the SEC.

• Alabama in now 9-5 in CFP games (6-2 in semifinals) — Michigan is 1-2 (1-2 in semifinals).

• Monday's attendance of 96,371 brought the all-time total attendance for the Rose Bowl to 9,658,818. It will once again be the highest in the 2023-24 bowl season.

• This was the third overtime game in CFP history, the second at the Rose Bowl (2018, Georgia defeated Oklahoma, 54-48, in two overtimes). This was the second for ‘Bama, which beat Georgia in overtime that same year for the title.

• The scoreless third quarter was just the ninth this bowl season (out of 160, with the Sugar and CFP title games to go).

• This tied for the second smallest margin of victory in a CPF 1-vs.-4 semifinal; first was Georgia’s 42-41 win over Ohio State last year, and this equaled Ohio State’s 42-35 win over Alabama in the 2015 Sugar (first-year).

• Alabama and Michigan remain the second and third-winningest teams this decade: Georgia leads (51-4), followed by Alabama (49-6) and Michigan (41-7).

• Alabama’s 288 total offensive yards marked a season low (previous: 306). U-M has allowed only two teams over 300 total offensive yards this season (Nebraska, 305; Ohio State, 395).

Here's your dubious distinction note of the day: Jalen Milroe has been sacked 42 times this season, the most in a season by an Alabama QB since Freddie Kitchens in 1996 (also 42, including reg. season and bowl game).

— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) January 1, 2024

See Also:

Alabama's Season Was One to Remember, That's What Hurts the Crimson Tide the Most