Casagrande: The haunting kind of loss when Alabama dreams end early
This is an opinion column
Emotion cut to the marrow on a surreal Monday night in the Rose Bowl.
The scene was something out of a Crimson Tide apocalyptic screenplay, the Michigan fight song wailing, as maize and blue confetti fell on the Alabama hero left frozen in time.
The climax of a classic yet sloppy Rose Bowl semifinal saw college football’s villain stuff this generation’s power
Left in the wake was Jalen Milroe — the undeniable heartbeat of an Alabama team that broke the mold but not the Wolverines. The quarterback, stopped cold at the line of scrimmage on the game’s final play, spent a few seconds in stunned disbelief.
Milroe and teammates digested Michigan 27, Alabama 20 in waves.
From dazed on the turf to visibly angry, the Crimson Tide quarterback largely responsible for climbing from the depths of mid-September swoon.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this — not after surviving a season-long story arc in one afternoon, coming a play away from sealing another kneecapping of a No. 1 team. Ending Georgia’s barnstorm to third straight crown in the SEC championship gave this oddly upstart Alabama team the air of invincibility. Perhaps even a team of destiny, at least to get another crack at the Texas team that derailed any sensible path Alabama traditionally takes to a place like the Rose Bowl.
And yet there Milroe was, fighting the urge to throw his helmet on a long slog through a slack-jawed Alabama sideline still processing the moment.
A season that somehow survived an impossible 4th-and-31 was stopped cold on 4th-and-3.
Helmets were spiked on the sideline.
So were shoulder pads.
Student managers wiped away tears.
Over in Sect. 27-H, the Million Dollar Band played a mournful alma mater as color guard member wiped away tears.
And just up the tunnel to their right, a silent Alabama locker room was coming to grips with Michigan pulling the handbreak on this white-knuckle ride of a season. Surviving scares from Texas A&M and Arkansas looked tame compared to clawing back from down 20-7 to Tennessee in late October. LSU brought another touch of anxiety a few weeks before Auburn nearly brought the whole house down a week after losing by 21 to New Mexico State
Everyone knows how that ended, and the 27-24 SEC title takedown of previously unstoppable Georgia. When Alabama needed a play late in both, it was Milroe who delivered — first by air, then by land.
So it was poetic for the ball to be in his hands in what amounted to a two-point conversion to save the season. But where the play called was an option to throw to an open Roydell Williams or run up the gut, yet another low snap appeared to make that decision for the passer. Williams, a running back, threw his hands up as the Michigan line sold out for the run and got exactly what they wanted.
The intersection of agony and joy Alabama’s often taken to glory was instead flipped on its head.
Michigan, a semifinal flop in each of the last two seasons, found the formula when it appeared on the verge of a familiar bust. Converting a fourth-down down 7 in the closing moments, the Wolverines began cutting through a typically stout Alabama defense suddenly plagued by missed tackles and assignments.
No, this wasn’t about a singular offensive failure on the game’s final snap.
Alabama had a chance to put Michigan away a few times but settled for a field goal and a seven-point lead in the possession preceding the Wolverines’ game-tying march.
The scene in the depressed Alabama locker room knew this game was right there for the taking.
From someone who has been in Alabama dressing rooms after devastating losses, this was different. After Hunter Renfrow’s last-second touchdown beat the Tide for the 2016 national title, there was more rage than sadness. Two years later, the stages of grief were well down the road by the time the press was allowed in after a 44-16 loss to Clemson ended the 2018 title march.
The air in the visitors’ dressing room under the Rose Bowl on Monday was thick was raw sadness.
“I cried,” defensive leader Terrion Arnold said. “I cried. And I cried.”
Across the room, Bellville, Michigan product Damon Payne Jr., just walked in a daze. To his right was offensive tackle JC Latham. The likely first-round pick in this spring’s NFL draft was left in the pile three yards short of a second overtime that included Milroe. In the locker room, the frustration and pure sadness oozed from the former 5-star recruit.
“I wasn’t good enough,” Latham said bluntly. “We were supposed to play better … I clearly didn’t do a good enough job with my guy.”
Of course, it’s never that simple.
Early-game failure to adjust to Michigan’s stunting defensive front left Alabama in a 199-39 yardage hole salvaged only by the Wolverine’s special teams follies.
Still, Alabama handed the top-ranked team its first second-half deficit of the season and couldn’t finish the job.
That kind of loss lingers, cutting to the bone of the what-ifs that won’t ease anytime soon.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.