PASADENA — Michigan football rallied to score 14 points unanswered to pull off a 27-20 overtime win in the 110th Rose Bowl Game against Alabama Monday night in Pasadena.
“That was glorious,” Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh said postgame after the Wolverines’ first Rose Bowl win since their 1997 national championship season.
Coach Harbaugh said the comeback victory was not about him.
“My joy, my ecstatic joy is for our players and our coaches and our fans and our families,” Harbaugh continued.
The Wolverines (14-0) trailed 20-13 with 4:41 left in the fourth quarter but an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, which was capped off a 4-yard touchdown pass by junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy to senior receiver Roman Wilson, tied the game with 1:34 to go in regulation.
“When it comes to these situations, I was calm,” Harbaugh explained. “That fourth quarter, that overtime. I just felt like there’s nothing that we couldn’t overcome inside this stadium.”
McCarthy, who completed 12 of 27 attempts for 221 yards and three touchdowns, said staying up late on a nightly basis to prepare for Alabama was worth losing several hours of sleep.
“Making sure that I was locked in on all cylinders and every situation,” McCarty said, who was named the Rose Bowl’s offensive player of the game. “Fourth quarter, overtime, fourth down and that big completion to Blake (Corum), everything about it was making sure I was the most prepared guy on the field so I can go out there and help my teammates the best I can.”
Michigan’s defense, which had six total sacks, stopped Alabama (12-2) again late but muffed a punt, which they recovered on their own 1 with 44 seconds to go. The Wolverines meticulously inched forward on subsequent plays to avoid a safety. The Wolverines received the ball first in overtime.
A 17-yard touchdown run by Michigan senior running back Blake Corum on the second play of overtime put the Wolverines up 27-20.
“That’s…
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