Alabama football and Nick Saban have found themselves back in the College Football Playoff as they are set to face Jim Harbaugh and Michigan in the Rose Bowl in a semi-final matchup with the victor playing in the national championship game.
The No. 4 Crimson Tide (12-1) only made it one season without making it into the playoff, which was last season. But their return isn’t without controversy. After losing in Week 2 to Texas at home, the Crimson Tide were able to rattle off 11 straight victories, including a much-needed one over then No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. That win put the entire CFP in flux that eventually had the playoff committee make the controversial decision to leave out a 13-0 ACC Champion Florida State team in favor of Alabama.
Michigan definitely knows a thing or two about controversy, but none of that will matter come game time. The Wolverines football team will be making their third consecutive semi-final CFP game but have yet to win one and make it to the national championship. In Alabama’s seven CFP appearances, they’ve only once not played for the title when they lost to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semi-final in the inception year of the playoff.
Most are fearing that with Alabama finding their way into the playoff, then it’s now theirs for the taking. Will they end Michigan’s dominant season in the Grandaddy of them all? Let’s get into some Alabama Rose Bowl bold predictions.
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Jalen Milroe shows out, scores at least two touchdowns
Alabama football’s Milroe, after being benched after the loss to Texas, has since come back with a vengeance and is now considered one of the best quarterbacks in college football. Milroe can be explosive as a passer and a runner. He was able to complete 39 passes of at least 25 yards this season. Throwing the deep ball is one of Milroe’s specialties, as if the Iron Bowl wasn’t evident enough of that. In total, the Alabama quarterback was accounted for 23 passing and 12 rushing touchdowns. He’ll get one of each in the Rose Bowl.
Alabama football’s defense gets three sacks and causes two turnovers
Michigan football faced two of the top-3 defenses in the country when they played Penn State and Ohio State. In those two games they took only one sack and one turnover, which was a fumble recovered. When they meet Alabama, it won’t be another top-3, but the Crimson Tide are still coming in with a top-20 defense ranked at 17.
Anytime there’s a defense with Nick Saban’s name on it it is bound to be dangerous. The Crimson Tide defense has made 38 sacks this season, tied for 10th in the country. They also have 18 takeaways this season with a +8 in the turnover margin. That could be the difference in this game with as stout as both defenses are. Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy has been a bit shaky over the last part of the season, so the Alabama will be looking to take advantage of that.
Michigan football surprises Alabama and goes up two scores early
Unlike the Wolverines, the Crimson Tide have had to play from behind at times this season. They’ve trailed in nine of their 13 games this season at some point and only lost one of those, which was against the Longhorns. They were down 20-7 to Tennessee at halftime and then they rallied to score 24 unanswered points to win 34-20.
It would be shocking to see Michigan take an early lead and make everyone believe this Alabama football team was done. We’ve thought that too many times this season, and it’s always gone against every doubter.
Alabama beats Michigan, wins Rose Bowl game by 10 to move on to CFP National Championship
Michigan is still technically the favorite over Alabama according to FanDuel, but everything feels like they’re the underdog. A lot of that comes with comparing playoff resumes against one another. Michigan is 0-2 in the CFP, while Alabama is 8-4 with three national championships. No one has a resume like that, which can be daunting for anyone playing them, including a senior-heavy experienced team like Michigan.
The worst thing that could have happened was letting this Alabama team into the playoff because now they know they have a chance to make it back to an all-too-familiar place in the national championship game. And it’s a place better than Disneyland.
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