A maize streak screamed, pumped and waved their arms against the backdrop of Michigan’s defense.

Ball on the 3-yard-line. With the game in overtime, Rose Bowl and national title berth at stake, the Wolverines said they predicted the play would be designed for Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe. They were right. Technically.

The end of the 110th Granddaddy of Them All ended on a 1-yard run after Milroe picked the snap from center Seth McLaughlin off the ground and ran forward. Milroe bowled into the line of scrimmage, banging up his right tackle JC Latham in the process. Confetti erupted. The goalpost slouched to the turf and the sidelines went in different directions. Michigan toward the defenders that won it a trip to the national title game and Alabama players to the locker room and the offseason.

But, wait a minute, what was supposed to happen on fourth down? After Milroe was tackled, amid the chaos, Alabama sophomore Kobe Prentice waved his arms, claiming it was “wide open.”

“We were trying to take advantage of the looks they were giving us at the end,: Prentice told AL.com in the locker room. “That’s what it was. It was supposed to be a bubble (screen) coming out of the backfield by the back. A read (or choice) but, you know, stuff just kind of happened.

“I was just frustrated cause all the work we put into the season, how much it took to get here and how we ended.”

Watch the replay again. Just before the snap, Milroe motioned running back Roydell Williams to the left side of the formation. Prentice and Isaiah Bond, lined out wide, immediately try to block the defensive backs in front of them. Michigan was in “Cover 0″ or man-to-man defense with no free bodies to help in coverage.

It may not have been a walk-in touchdown, but Williams would’ve had an attempt to push the game into another overtime period if he caught it. But by the time Williams turned his head to Milroe, it was too late.

“First thing, I’m appreciative of my coaching staff for believing in me to have the ball in my hands on that last play,” Milroe said after Alabama lost 27-20. “You win some, you lose some. That’s all part of the game. With anything, all it came down was fall back to your level of training, and we just failed on that play.”

How Alabama has delivered the ball to Milroe had been a recurring struggle in 2023. McLaughlin, a senior, declined to talk to reporters postgame opting to stay at his locker and scroll through his phone while teammates and coaches intermittently walked over for a pat on the back.

In November, McLaughlin said changed his grip, opting away from the laces.

The run-pass option was the third play Alabama called in that sequence. Ahead of a game-deciding play, U-M coach Jim Harbaugh and the Tide’s Nick Saban alternated timeouts. With first-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees in the booth, a staffer and associate head coach of offense Holmon Wiggins gathered the team in a huddle, Saban walking through the ranks.

“The fact that it didn’t work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean? But we called time-out because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it. But Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run,” Saban said.

The play was one of schemed Alabama’s two-point conversion plans, Saban clarified. But a poor snap stopped Alabama before Michigan could.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].