Braiden McGregor smirked at the question.

The edge rusher was asked about Michigan’s overtime win at the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl; It didn’t take long for McGregor to remember the six sacks Michigan produced, two of which he delivered, including a 13-yard loss on the Crimson Tide’s offense opening play.

“Going into it, we knew what ’Bama was. Everybody’s talking about the o-line, a quarterback that can really get out there and move around so our game plan was to go in there and attack the offensive line the best way we can. And that was like bringing twists, showing them fronts that they haven’t seen before and getting in Milroe’s face,” McGregor said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis Wednesday. ” … We executed it and got to where we wanted to be.”

Michigan’s CFP record five-first half sacks, and 10 overall tackles for loss, helped send former coach Jim Harbaugh to the national championship, and eventually the NFL, with a ring. Meanwhile, the 27-20 loss was the final game in Nick Saban’s career. The Wolverines’ front seven bullied Alabama for most of the game, culminating in a botched final snap in overtime.

UM generated 40 sacks in the regular season, the 10th-most in the country. The Tide was the third team to score at least 20 points on Michigan and its 288 yards of offense was more than 100 yards fewer than its season average. It didn’t help that left tackle Kadyn Proctor played every snap with a torn ankle ligament.

“Feel like we just had a great game plan. Coach (Jesse) Minter, he dialed up a great game plan,” Jalyen Harrell said.

Michigan had used stunts throughout the season, but McGregor noted it broke out “a little extra” from the playbook to keep the Tide off script. Alabama went three-for-13 on third downs. And aside from a first-quarter drive that generated 44 rushing yards on four plays, Alabama averaged 3.28 yards across 39 attempts.

As Michigan’s Junior Colson, who led the team with 10 tackles, put it: “At the end of the day, we just played our game. Our defense was able to dominate.”

The Tide will have at least three new starters on the offensive line under Kalen DeBoer (Washington) and Chris Kapilovic (Baylor) this spring. Proctor and Seth McLaughlin transferred to Iowa and Ohio State, respectively. JC Latham is a projected top pick in the NFL Draft. The interior of the new line seems in place with returning guards Tyler Booker and Jaeden Roberts and UW transfer center Parker Brailsford.

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