Trent Richardson was looking down on the Michigan football team as it celebrated a Rose Bowl victory in the locker room.

Not the actual Alabama running back of course. But a large photograph of him, crossing the goal line at the Rose Bowl Stadium in January of 2010, helping UA beat Texas for the first national title of Nick Saban’s tenure.

“I know that bowl bonus must have hit,” one of the Wolverines chirped at a passing coach as the celebration continued.

Alabama’s locker room was a different mood altogether, though it wasn’t a dissimilar scene. The logistics of getting a football team changed after a game are fairly standard.

Both rooms were similar, with great moments from the stadium’s history, including Alabama’s championship win, represented photographically around the top of the wall. On either side of both rooms, the phrase “The Granddaddy of Them All” reminded players which game they had just won or lost.

Players changed out of their uniforms, besides some Michigan players who stayed fully dressed and seemed to have no interest in even removing their shoulder pads. Conversely, Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, who struggled to snap the ball in defeat, took off just his helmet and cleats as he sat and stared at his locker during the time when the room was open.

Teammates and staffers stopped by his locker to try and boost the center’s spirits. Around the room, players tried to comfort each other as they put their equipment into crimson duffle bags and removed tape from their bodies to toss onto the blue, gray and gold carpeting.

Alabama’s locker room was far emptier than Michigan’s. Much of the Crimson Tide was rushing out of the room just as reporters were granted access following a mandated cooling-off period.

Former Tide running back Mark Ingram, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the team’s “LANK” slogan, had been in the locker room. Tyler Booker was there, engaging with reporters after cutting a promo for the Yea Alabama NIL collective.

Staffers in both rooms grabbed equipment as it was ready, stacking shoulder pads onto racks, a Michigan worker sat an enormous pair of white and maize Air Jordan 13s on a table. Whiteboards and road cases, blue for the Wolverines, Crimson for the Tide, were rolled to the center of the room, ready to make the journey to the trucks parked outside, which players walked past on their way to pick up their catered Chick-Fil-A dinners.

The floors in both rooms were dirty with the tape, cleats and whatever other equipment got strewn about. The Michigan locker room had cases of Absopure bottled watter sitting on the floor ready go.

Amidst the mess, the players celebrating their opportunity play in next week’s national title game against Washinton, the Wolverine looker room floor was strewn with with thing not seen in the Tide’s.

Rose petals.