A miracle fourth-down conversion in the Iron Bowl against Auburn kept No. 4 Alabama in the College Football Playoff mix, but lightning wouldn’t strike twice as a failed fourth-down play in the 27-20 overtime loss to No. 1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal ended the Crimson Tide’s season.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe was stopped short of the goal line on a designed run up the middle. The play was the Tide’s biggest of the season and ultimately sparked debate about its quality.
After the game, Saban explained the play when asked about it during his postgame press conference. He stated it was the execution and not the call itself.
“[Offensive coordinator] Tommy [Rees] just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our 2-point play, one of our 2-point plays for this game,” said Saban in the postgame press conference. “The ball was on the 3-yard line, which is just like a 2-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.”
Replay showed that a bad snap doomed the Crimson Tide from the start on that final play.
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With the loss, Alabama’s national championship drought extends to three seasons — the longest such stretch under Saban.
Milroe completed 16 of 23 passes for 116 yards and finished with 63 rushing yards on 21 carries but was unable to find the end zone. He was unable to display his playmaking ability after the offensive line struggled with its protection and keeping the quarterback upright.
Milroe was sacked six times with Michigan defensive end Braiden McGregor responsible for two of those sacks.
