When the Alabama Crimson Tide and Michigan Wolverines face off in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, many will view the game as just another matchup between two of college football’s brightest stars.
With the program’s 1,000th victory this year, Michigan is the winningest program in the history of the sport. And who is second? None other than the Crimson Tide with 965 wins.
Why did the Michigan team and its fans seem to gasp when Alabama was announced as their opponent in the College Football Playoff? This is probably a matter of recent history. The two programs first met on the field in 1988 and have only played five times.
Alabama has a slim 3-2 lead, but the last two games have both been Crimson Tide victories that ended in demoralizing fashion. At the start of the 2012 season, Alabama and Michigan met in Dallas, where the Tide earned a 41:14 victory over the then number one team. 8 wolverines.
And then in January. On January 1, 2020, a Tide team that had failed to realize its national title hopes faced No. 14 Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, and unfortunately for the Wolverines, Alabama’s pent-up frustration came into focus on them.
The first play from scrimmage of the game was a touchdown and too-easy 85-yard run by Jerry Jeudy, and Alabama ended up winning by three points, 35-16. Although Michigan players probably don’t remember it, the Wolverines also had a heartbreaking victory.
In the 2000 Orange Bowl, a Tom Brady-led Michigan beat the No. 5 Tide 35-34 in overtime. When Michigan beats the Tide in Pasadena on New Year’s Day, they’ll do more than just spark a budding rivalry between tradition-rich programs.
They will reinstate the recent narrative that Michigan (and, by extension, the Big Ten) cannot work with Alabama (and, by extension, the SEC).So don’t be surprised if this is as close as Michigan vs. Alabama at the turn of the millennium.
Not only are both teams playing to win the championship, but this is the granddaddy of them all. One way or another, history will be made.
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Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz discussed the College Football Playoff controversy during a Thursday appearance on SiriusXM’s College Sports Radio. Drinkwitz said he found it absurd that a quarterback injury would justify Florida State’s exclusion from the four-team field.
“When we have very difficult conversations, I want to ask you this: If a team in the playoffs has a star player injured, does he get taken out of the playoffs and then we bring Florida State back?,” Drinkwitz asked.
“To me, that was a completely absurd rationalization. I know I’m an SEC guy, but that bothered me a lot.” Of course, many pointed out that Drinkwitz would probably have a different opinion if his team were in Alabama’s situation.
If Missouri were to suffer a loss and beating Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, Drinkwitz would almost certainly argue that the Tigers would have moved up a spot above Florida State. Florida State beat Louisville 13-0 in the game championship game.
The Seminoles finished their regular season undefeated, even after starting quarterback Jordan Travis was sidelined.
Yet the College Football Playoff selection committee felt FSU should not to be considered one of the top four teams in the country without Travis, so Alabama and Texas entered instead.
Florida State is the only undefeated Power Five conference champion to be eliminated from the College Football Playoff.
The luxury the committee had was that the CFP would expand to 12 teams starting next year, so there was no fear of setting a precedent.
As one of Florida State’s most famous alumni said, the College Football Playoff made a business decision in keeping the Seminoles out.
