PASADENA, California. — Kris Jenkins You’ve heard all about the big, bad Southeastern Conference. He’s heard too much about it, actually.
“We’re not big enough,” the Michigan defensive lineman said, raising his voice as he spoke Monday night in a postgame locker room strewn with rose petals. “We are not strong enough. We are not fast enough. “We can’t keep up with the SEC.”
That narrative helped fuel him. He helped fuel Michigan’s entire roster, especially those who had been on the field or on the sidelines when the Wolverines lost to Georgia two years ago in the program’s first trip to the College Football Playoff.
“So, you know, I bet,” Jenkins said. “We said, ‘We’ll show you. We will remind you what this M Block means.’”
Next stop: Houston
We’re headed to the Natty!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/cHFX7EPFpO
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 2, 2024
And that’s exactly what Michigan did against Alabama on hallowed turf here in the Rose Bowl on Monday night. In their 27-20 victory, the Wolverines showed not only the Crimson Tide but also the nation that they were not simply the product of a weak Big Ten conference with poor quarterback play. They were, finally, one of the best in the nation. Because they could beat the program that has been the gold standard of the sport for more than a decade, coached by the greatest in the history of the sport.
Because they beat Bama.
Michigan’s win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl isn’t just about these two teams or just about this year. He was about their brothers and their shared history: years and years of pretty lopsided history. Since the 2000 season, the SEC had been 8-2 against the Big Ten in matchups between two AP Top 10 teams, and six of those wins had been by at least 23 points. The only Big Ten victories in that span were by Ohio State, with the Buckeyes beating Arkansas in 2010 and Alabama in 2014, the first year of the College Football Playoff.
Often, only the Buckeyes have carried the conference flag in the sport’s highest-stakes games. Before Monday, they were the only Big Ten team to have played in a national championship game since the start of the BCS era. (There wasn’t even a true national championship game the last time Michigan won the title: a championship split with Nebraska in 1997.)
So yes. Michigan’s defeat of Alabama meant a lot, especially the way the Wolverines did it. They were physical at the time of the attack. They dominated Alabama’s offensive line for much of the first half and then again late when it mattered most, late in the fourth quarter and on that fateful fourth-and-3 with the game hanging in the balance in overtime. They also tallied a season-high six sacks of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.
“We had to rough up the bully,” Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant said. “Everyone talks about how big and bad Alabama is, how SEC ball is different. What it says on paper and how they look out there (are) two totally different things. “We just had to go out there and bully the bully.”
The Wolverines were just as big, just as bad. They were just as fast, putting the concept of “SEC speed” to rest when rarely used receiver Tyler Morris outpaced Alabama’s entire defense in the second quarter to score Michigan’s second touchdown. Running back Blake Corum dazzled and seemed to get stronger as the game went on, more explosive than he had been all season, all against a Nick Saban defense. It was fitting, of course, that he scored the only touchdown in the overtime period on a 17-yard run.
That’s not to say Michigan played a perfect game. Far from it, with mistake after mistake on special teams nearly costing the Wolverines the game. Alabama also played sloppily, with a lot of botched snaps and busted coverages. No one would mistake Monday night’s game for a masterpiece, but it didn’t matter. All it did was the Big Ten champion stopped the SEC’s best to earn a chance to play for a national championship.
“In the SEC, they say it just means more,” defenseman Braiden McGregor said. “It should be ours now.”
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(Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)